Motion

 

 

The swaying motion on the banks of the river falls

The vortex at the sternpost,

The swiftness of the rail,

The vast passage of the current

Conduct through unimaginable lights

And chemical change

The travelers surrounded by waterspouts of the strath

And of the strom.

 

They are the conquerors of the world

Seeking their personal chemical fortune;

Sports and comforts voyage with them;

They carry the education

Of races, classes and of animals, on this ship

Repose and dizziness

To torrential light

To terrible nights of study.

 

For from the talk among the apparatus, the blood, the flowers, the fire,

the gems,

From the excited calculations on this fugitive ship,

--One sees, rolling like a dyke beyond the hydraulic-powered road,

Monstrous, endlessly illuminated,-- their stock of studies;

They driven into harmonic ecstacy,

And the heroism of discovery.

 

In the morning startling atmospheric accidents,

A youthful couple holds itself aloof on the ark,

--Is it primitive shyness that people pardon?--

And sings and stands guard.