Riding On An Emerald Ship Poem by Daniel Artemas Harmon

For a strange while
I saw into far days
when you and I
will be as quiet dust.

I rode on an emerald ship,
twisted and flashed
over the bar of light.

Ship and I became
one with time;
and time ended
and again began.

Over the spiraled pearl
of the galaxy
flowed a slow wind
as of cooling fire

I saw a thousand thousand
million worlds,
circling in certain paths
innumerable suns.

Worlds on worlds I saw
from nucleus to rim
and on them life
in every form and kind.

And on each world
I sought the sons of man,
with each world hoped to see
this earth, our mother.

Until, dark pinpoint
in a time long past,
I saw the drifting ash,
and a cinder, cold.