WHISPERS.

What was it the wind said, Blowing from the Orient To the Cross on the hill, And the fans of the Mill? What was it the wind said, Blowing at twilight, To New England? The wind that blew from the East Blew dreamily, A low song and strange song had the sea. The Islanders sought each other’s eyes, And young men dreamed enterprise; Then sails put from the shores, And wives stood alone at the doors; For the old world, the strange world, called To New England! White sails stole out On the silver sound, They ran into storms Outward bound; They could not stay home And they would not turn back, For the Old World, The dim world, Called to New England! Now, in the old house Where the chimneys stretch wide, Young wives talk by the fireside; On the walls there is Delft, And the lacquered trays, Jades, teak and teapots, Fans of gallant days; China, tortoise and pearl, Ivory carved like lace; Chuddah, Cashmere, Sandal, In some secret place.... And what say the young wives, The frank young wives, To the stranger’s face? “No one guessed how they knew, Nor what the wind said, And the sailors are gone And the merchants are dead; But the toppling summer sea, And the pale blue winter world, Came often and oft again, And the years like sails furled. Men died on the ships And were buried at sea, Men languished on wild coasts, Lost in mystery....” “No one knows what was said Nor what answered again, When the wind blew a strange way, The wind blew a new way, For Nantucket men, And the Old World called to New England!”