Argonauts

From Asia’s teeming highlands, coasts and bays,
They ploughed the outmost rim of ocean foam,
In pathless deeps envisioning a home
Where suns perennial drop unslanted rays.
They ventured from the people-trodden ways,
And in their light, swift-wingéd barangays,
The seas below, aloft the flaming skies,
They found the ocean haven of Malays.
They set their eyes on points unvisited,
On wave-lapped isles enchantedly remote,
The yawning reefs kept tally of the dead,
Transforming into graves the homes they sought.
From Asia’s naked shores by fancy led,
They spread their sails, and drifted, monsoon-caught.