A merchant's wedding portrait

Once, my fears were piracy and storms,
My fever in Java, monstrous sloping seas.
Now, dressed in wealth I do not care for
And earth-bound in my house at Amsterdam,
I fear my growing old.

Sad, my books, so sad, each merchant voyage.
Once I stood straight as my masts.
Now a freight of memory makes me list
Towards this serious girl with apple cheeks,
Whose words are few and sweet.

So long as her heart beats onward, onward,
Progressing over the plain of days,
So long as her finger-tips touch my hand -
Her tact worth countless easier kisses -
So long I shall love her.

And yet: although the pastor had declared
Our conjoined life imperishable good,
Watching the horizon, my heart asked
Why the seas should slope and menace still
And why the air grew dark.