SETTING OUT

To leave at last, to brilliant
Sea-spray and hosannahs—
With a knowing expectancy,
Irrevocable impulse—

To glide through the golden air
Of summer—
Give thanks!—and then
To set the joyful skill

Of muscles—in a sudden
Access of instinct—against
The waves; and fearlessly,
Fearlessly to fling All luxuries and cries

Across the central dawn
Of a paradise, to drown
In a plenitude and be
Reborn, utterly clear—

Gusts from virgin spaces,
Unheard-of harmonies—
Happy, speedy, astral,
Nimble, and alone!