Epitaph for a Sailor Buried Ashore

He who but yesterday would roam
Careless as clouds and currents range,
In homeless wandering most at home,
Inhabiter of change;

Who wooed the west to win the east,
And named the stars of North and South,
And felt the zest of Freedom’s feast
Familiar in his mouth;

Who found a faith in stranger-speech,
And fellowship in foreign hands,
And had within his eager reach
The relish of all lands--

How circumscribed a plot of earth
Keeps now his restless footsteps still,
Whose wish was wide as ocean’s girth,
Whose will the water’s will!