HENRY HUDSON (d. 1611)
THE Queen of Westminster declared, Declared, and drove him forth : " The kingdom of old Tartary Lies somewhere to the north."
The merchant men they scolded him— He, trapped inside the Bay, Who failed to find across the Pole A passage to Cathay.
He has forgotten them ; they came Plump, trooping to the quay, Beruffed, befurred, the shrewd, the wise Muscovy Company.
Gone are the rowing-men in red, The splashing and the cries, The palaces, the luminous Dove-light of Greenwich skies ; Above, above, on cliffs of ice Set sheer above the bay, He sees them, golden at the last, The Cities of Cathay.
What visions and what memories rise To damn him, or console, Who falls asleep, who dies within The circle of the Pole?
His eyelids have worn thin, and seem Transparent to his eyes, Only the colour of the North Distracts the night he dies.
Only the gulping seas, pressed up Through fissures of the floes, Only the cannonade of ice Makes music when he goes.
Only the bergs, like flames afloat, Tower tapering to the light ; Charge on, and grind, and swing apart, Spinning in copper night.
Above, above, on cliffs of ice Set sheer above the bay, He sees them, golden at the last, The Cities of Cathay. DOROTHY WELLESLEY.
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