On my right hand
        there were
         lines of fishing stakes
              resembling a mysterious system
                   of half-submerged bamboo fences,
           incomprehensible in its division
               of the domain
             of tropical fishes,
         and crazy of aspect
             as if abandoned forever
                   by some nomad tribe
                       of fishermen now
                  gone to the
                       other end of the ocean;
        for there was
               no sign of human habitation
             as far
               as the eye
            could reach.

    To the left a group
           of barren islets,
         suggesting ruins of stone walls,
         towers,
           and blockhouses,
         had its foundations
              set in a blue sea
             that itself looked solid,
           so still and stable
            did it
                  lie below my feet;
        even the track of light
               from the westering sun
             shone smoothly,
           without that animated glitter
              which tells
                   of an imperceptible ripple.

    And when
         I turned my head
              to take a parting
                   glance at the tug
              which had just
                  left us
                      anchored outside the bar,
           I saw the straight line
               of the flat shore
             joined to the stable sea,
         edge to edge,
           with a perfect
               and unmarked closeness,
         in one leveled floor
               half brown,
           half blue
               under the enormous dome
                   of the sky.

    Corresponding in their insignificance
           to the islets
               of the sea,
           two small clumps of trees,
         one on
               each side of the
              only fault
                   in the impeccable joint,
           marked the mouth
               of the river Meinam
             we had just
                  left on
                       the first preparatory stage
                     of our homeward journey;
        and,
           far back
               on the inland level,
         a larger and loftier mass,
           the grove
              surrounding the great Paknam pagoda,
         was the only thing
             on which the eye
                could rest
                       from the vain task
                           of exploring the monotonous sweep
                         of the horizon.

    Here and there
          gleams as of a
               few scattered
             pieces of silver
                  marked the windings
                       of the great river;
        and on the nearest
               of them,
           just within the bar,
         the tug steaming right
               into the land became
             lost to my sight,
           hull and funnel and masts,
         as though the impassive earth
            had swallowed her up
             without an effort,
           without a tremor.

    My eye
          followed the light
               cloud of her smoke,
           now here,
         now there,
           above the plain,
         according to the devious curves
               of the stream,
           but always fainter
               and farther away,
         till I lost
               it at last
                   behind the miter-shaped hill
                       of the great pagoda.

    And then
         I was
              left alone with my ship,
           anchored at the head
               of the Gulf of Siam.

    She floated at the starting
           point of a long journey,
         very still
               in an immense stillness,
         the shadows of her spars
               flung far to the eastward
                   by the setting sun.

    At that moment
         I was alone
               on her decks.

    There was
           not a sound in her
          --and around us nothing moved,
           nothing lived,
         not a canoe
               on the water,
           not a bird
               in the air,
         not a cloud
               in the sky.

    In this breathless pause
           at the threshold
               of a long passage
         we seemed
              to be
                  measuring our fitness
                       for a long
                           and arduous enterprise,
           the appointed task of
               both our existences
              to be carried out,
         far from all human eyes,
           with only sky and sea
               for spectators and for judges.

    There must have been
           some glare
         in the air
          to interfere with one's sight,
           because it was only just
             before the sun left us
                 that my roaming
                       eyes made
                           out beyond the highest ridges
                               of the principal islet
                             of the group something
                      which did
                          away with the solemnity
                               of perfect solitude.

    The tide of darkness
        flowed on swiftly;
           and with tropical suddenness
               a swarm
             of stars
            came out
                   above the shadowy earth,
           while I lingered yet,
         my hand
              resting lightly
                   on my ship's rail
             as if
                   on the shoulder
                       of a trusted friend.

    But,
           with all
             that multitude of celestial bodies