Sailing Boat

What do you think?

The poem I am looking for is about a sail that moves away from land until it can hardly be seen….then is sighted from the other side. Any help with the complete wording? 

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What Is Dying? 
by: Brian Colgate 

What Is Dying?
Bishop Charles Henry Brent

Written on the death of his wife
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I am standing on the sea shore.

A ship sails to the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.

She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her until at last she fades on the horizon, and someone at my side says, ‘She is gone’ Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all.


She is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her, and just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination.

The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says, ‘she is gone’ there are others who are watching her coming, and other voices take up the glad shout, ‘there she comes.’

That is dying.

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Other bits of modernist commentary have been added by later copyists … they do not belong to the original poem.
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Charles Henry Brent was born near Newcastle, Ontario, Canada, and ordained in the Church of England in Toronto in 1887. He later served in the Episcopal Church in parishes in Buffalo and Boston.

In 1901 he was elected the first Episcopal Bishop of the Philippine Islands. In 1917, he was elected the Bishop of Western New York.

He was a strong advocate of Christian Unity, and in 1927 presided the World Conference of Faith and Order, in Lausanne Switzerland, which conference laid the foundations for the World Council of Churches.
 sailing poem 
by: Anonymous 

A ship sails and I stand watching till she fades on the horizon
and someone at my side says 
She is gone.
Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. 
She is just as large now as when I last saw her.
Her diminished size and total loss from my sight is in me, not in her. 

And just at that moment, when someone at my side says she is gone,
there are others who are watching her coming over their horizon 
and other voices take up a glad shout –
There she comes! 

That is what dying is.
An horizon and just the limit of our sight.
Lift us up O Lord, that we may see further.

Bishop Brent
 What is Dying? 
by: Anonymous 

What is dying?
I am standing on the sea shore. A ship sails and spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.
She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her till at last she fades on the horizon, and someone at my side says, “She is gone”, 
Gone where?
Gone from my sight, that is all;
She is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her, and just as able to bear her load of living 
freight to its destination.
The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me, not in her, 
and just at the moment when someone at my side says, “She 
is gone”, there are others who are watching her coming, 
and other voices take a glad shout “There she comes”,
And that is dying. 

Bishop Brent (1862-1926)
 I am standing on the seashore 
by: Dorothy Schlodder 

I am standng on the seashore…
A ship spreads her sails to the wind and starts for the ocean.
I stand watching her until she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says “She is gone”,
“Gone where?” I ask.
The loss of sight is in me, not her.
Just at the moment when someone said “She is gone” there are others who are watching her coming.
Other voices take up the glad shout “Here she comes”. 
…And that is dying…
 I am standing on the seashore 
by: Anonymous 

I am standng on the seashore…
A ship spreads her sails to the wind and starts for the ocean.
I stand watching her until she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says “She is gone”,
“Gone where?” I ask.
The loss of sight is in me, not her.
Just at the moment when someone said “She is gone” there are others who are watching her coming.
Other voices take up the glad shout “Here she comes”. 
…And that is dying…
 Poem by Henry Scott Holland 
by: Penny 

This poem was read at my son’s funeral last year 

“What is dying? 
I am standing on the sea shore, 
A ship sails and spreads her white sails to 
the morning breeze and starts for the ocean. 
She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her till at last she fades on the horizon, and someone at my side says, “She is gone” 
Gone where? 

Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her, and just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination. 
The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me, 
not in her and just at the moment when someone at my side says “She is gone”, there 
are others who are watching her coming, 
and other voices take up the glad shout, 
“There she comes”, and that is DYING.
 A Parable of Immortality 
by: Marsha 

I think this is what you are looking for… I found it on another website. Marsha 


A Parable of Immortality 

I am standing upon the seashore. 
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. 
She is an object of beauty and strength. 
I stand and watch until at last she hangs like a speck of white cloud 
Just where the sea and the sky come to mingle with each other. 
Then someone says, “There she goes!” 
Gone where? 
Gone from my sight, that is all. 
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side 
And just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. 
Her diminished size is in me, not in her. 
And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “There she goes” 
There are other eyes watching her coming 
And their voices ready to take up the glad shouts,
“Here she comes!” 

By Henry Van Dyke 
 Sailing Ship 
by: Anonymous 

When our loved one dies, it’s as if they are on a ship, leaving port and disappearing over the horizon. And those of us left on the dock watch sadly and say, “There she goes”. And when the ship goes over the horizon we mourn because our loved one seems to be gone completely, because we can’t see her any more. 
But, when the ship disappears over the horizon to us, it is just appearing to those at another port. And there are loved ones and fellow believers standing on the dock there who have already made the same journey. They are watching expectantly, and when the ship comes over the horizon and approaches, they cheer and say joyously, “Here she comes!”. 

One thought on “Sailing Boat”

  1. If this poem was written by Charles Brent, it cannot have been “on the death of his wife”, because the bishop never married. It cannot have been by Henry van Dyke, because (a) it doesn’t appear in his collected poems and (b) he loathed free verse. Recent research suggests it is by Luther F. Beecher, a Baptist minister and cousin by marriage of Harriet Beecher Stowe.

     
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