Canto XIV

If one should bring me this report,

      That thou hadst touch'd the land to-day,

      And I went down unto the quay,

And found thee lying in the port,

And standing, muffled round with woe,

      Should see thy passengers in rank

      Come stepping lightly down the plank,

And beckoning unto those they know,

And if along with these should come

      The man I held as half-divine;

      Should strike a sudden hand in mine,

And ask a thousand things of home;

And I should tell him all my pain,

      And how my life had droop'd of late,

      And he should sorrow o'er my state

And marvel what possess'd my brain;

And I perceived no touch of change,

      No hint of death in all his frame,

      But found him all in all the same,

I should not feel it to be strange.