Cargoes
By John Masefield, (1878-1967)
QUINQUEREME of Nineveh from distant Ophir
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
sandalwood, cedarwood and sweet white wine.
Stately Spanish galleon coming from the isthmus,
dipping through the tropics by the palm-green shores
With a cargo of diamonds,
emeralds, amethysts,
Topazes and cinammon, and gold moidores.
Dirty British coaster with a silt caked smokestack
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, Pig-lead
Firewood, iron-ware and cheap tin trays.
