His Dream + 

I swayed upon the gaudy stern + 

The butt end of a steering oar, + 

And everywhere that I could turn + 

A crowd upon a shore. + 

And though I would have hushed the crowd + 

There was no mother’s son but said, + 

“What is the figure in a shroud + 

Upon a gaudy bed?” + 

And after running at the brim + 

Cried out upon that thing beneath, + 

—It had such dignity of limb⁠— + 

By the sweet name of Death. + 

Though I’d my finger on my lip, + 

What could I but take up the song? + 

And fish and crowd and gaudy ship + 

Cried out the whole night long, + 

Crying amid the glittering sea, + 

Naming it with ecstatic breath, + 

Because it had such dignity + 

By the sweet name of Death. + 