The Convergence of the Twain

(Lines on the loss of the "Titanic")

          I

          In a solitude of the sea
          Deep from human vanity,
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.

          II

          Steel chambers, late the pyres
          Of her salamandrine fires,
Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.

          III

          Over the mirrors meant
          To glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls—grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.

          IV

          Jewels in joy designed
          To ravish the sensuous mind
Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.

          V

          Dim moon-eyed fishes near
          Gaze at the gilded gear
And query: "What does this vaingloriousness down here?" ...

          VI

          Well: while was fashioning
          This creature of cleaving wing,
The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything

          VII

          Prepared a sinister mate
          For her—so gaily great—
A Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate.

          VIII

          And as the smart ship grew
          In stature, grace, and hue,
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.

          IX

          Alien they seemed to be:
          No mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history.

          X

          Or sign that they were bent
          By paths coincident
On being anon twin halves of one august event,

          XI

          Till the Spinner of the Years
          Said "Now!" And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.