Poetry Manuscripts

leaf 1 recto

the _^ ^little waves from

I saw a s S hip sail on—and after she

had sail'd on, ^had pass'd,

The waters ^current in her wake—the little ^hastening waves

_^ ^hastening from afar, ^{smaller on larger,}

And the _^ ^farbillows reaching up, with ^their prying looks

and white necks, bending over, ^{with their with}prying looks

Tending _^ ^{[about two letters illegible]
gaily with swift flow}toward the track left by the _^ ^departedship

And the_^ ^{great spread of the}sea itself, _^ ^hoarselyblubbling and gur gurgling ^thither,

Toward that motley, laughing buoyan d t

streak of itself,

When the ship sailing on, had [stirred?] up ^displaced the surface,

Undulating, and flashing, so ^whirling frolicsome

under the sun;

The ^{To the} ^{Toward that} long, long, shining, and mottled track, _^ ^{with curves,}

Where the ship, sailing & tacking, had displaced the

with curves, surface

Thither The _^ ^{little & larger}waves, with yearnfully flowing with frag-

~~ments & foam—a long ^variedprocession,~~ ^{A varied procession, with many a fleck of foam & many fragments}

where, they

^{They In} There, to the wake of the vessel, _^ ^they, long _^ ^{& long}after

she had pass'd,

Gathering, joyously followed.

Editorial note: This manuscript is a draft of a poem published first as "In the Wake Following" in the December 1874 issue of the New York Daily Graphic. The poem was later revised and published as "After the Sea-Ship."; The verso of the manuscript leaf is blank.

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