Shipping on the Mississippi
Ships all around,
all shapes and sizes,
Boats and vessels,
big and small,
Hover-crafts
and hydrofoils,
Helicopters
and humming sun-planes,
Air-borne kites
and outboard motors,
Paddle-boats
and pinnaces,
Keelboats, carracks,
and cargo-tugs,
Punts for lone pilots,
and ponderous carriers.
A thicket of thole-deer
thronged the way-swift;
Countless craft
crowded the currents,
From the least of punts
to the largest of liners,
From sleek small sailboats
to slow solemn sun-ships,
Packed and piled,
prow to port-hole,
Stem to stern,
steer-board to broadside,
As one craft moving,
the wide waves seeking,
Line upon line,
for the lord of the rivers,
Down the pike-road
to the Dawn lit Tide,
On the swift steed’s back
toward Sunrise Sea.