Then, taking each by the hand, as if he were grasping a tiller,
  Into the boat he sprang, and in haste shoved off to his vessel,
  Glad in his heart to get rid of all this worry and flurry, 595
  Glad to be gone from a land of sand and sickness and sorrow,
  Short allowance of victual, and plenty of nothing but Gospel! 
  Lost in the sound of the oars was the last farewell of the Pilgrims. 
  O strong hearts and true! not one went back in the Mayflower! 
  No, not one looked back, who had set his hand to this ploughing! 600

  Soon we heard on board the shouts and songs of the sailors
  Heaving the windlass round, and hoisting the ponderous anchor. 
  Then the yards[39] were braced, and all sails set to the west-wind,
  Blowing steady and strong, and the Mayflower sailed from the harbor,
  Rounded the point of the Gurnet,[40] and leaving far to
      the southward 605
  Island and cape of sand, and the Field of the First Encounter,[41]
  Took the wind on her quarter, and stood for the open Atlantic,
  Borne on the sand of the sea, and the swelling hearts of the Pilgrims.

  Long in silence they watched, the receding sail of the vessel,
  Much endeared to them all, as something living and human; 610
  Then, as it filled with the spirit, and wrapped in a vision prophetic,
  Baring his hoary head, the excellent Elder of Plymouth. 
  Said, “Let us pray!” and they prayed, and thanked the Lord and
      took courage. 
  Mournfully sobbed the waves at the base of the rock, and above them
  Bowed and whispered the wheat on the hill of death, and
      their kindred 615
  Seemed to awake in their graves, and to join in the prayer that
      they uttered. 
  Sun-illumined and white, on the eastern verge of the ocean
  Gleamed the departing sail, like a marble slab in a graveyard;
  Buried beneath it lay forever all hope of escaping,
  Lo! as they turned to depart, they saw the form of an Indian, 620
  Watching them from the hill; but while they spake with each other,
  Pointing with outstretched hands, and saying, “Look!” he had vanished. 
  So they returned to their homes; but Alden lingered a little,
  Musing alone on the shore, and watching the wash of the billows
  Round the base of the rock, and the sparkle and flash
      of the sunshine, 625
  Like the spirit of God, moving visibly over the waters.[42]

  VI

  PRISCILLA.

  Thus for a while he stood, and mused by the shore of the ocean,
  Thinking of many things, and most of all of Priscilla;
  And as if thought had the power to draw to itself, like the loadstone,
  Whatsoever it touches, by subtile laws of its nature, 630
  Lo! as he turned to depart, Priscilla was standing beside him.