I watched the clouds from Spain go over the earth,

The silent ships that steer between the stars,

Magnificent navy moving in the moonlight,

Sailing forever toward the windy wars.

The long dark flow of night carried them west.

Lying upon my back, I had for bed

A field in summer on the solid earth,

And watched that slow Armada overhead.

Gravely the galleons go, I whispered then, -

But though the blunt prows shouldered through the deep,

The ships of cloud came over slower than sleep,

Laden with sleep, and the mariners lost in sleep.