Sailing Barges off Southend
Drifting on a tide from long ago,
They swing at anchor silently
Wreathed in early morning mist,
Like ghosts grown mellow with antiquity.
With names like Gladys, Will and Edith May
Heroic legends motionless on ancient bows,
They are waiting for the breeze, patiently
Submissive to the whims of air and ebb.
Later, with windlass rattling as anchors are weighed,
Sails set at the stirring of wind over tide
They bear away a pageant of remembered trade –
A flock of stately seabirds through the lanes.





Related poetry:
- My Boy Jack 1914-18 Have you news of my boy Jack?” Not this tide. “When d’you think that he’ll come back?” Not with […]...
- A Song before Sailing Wind of the dead men’s feet, Blow down the empty street Of this old city by the sea With news […]...
- 16-bit Intel 8088 chip with an Apple Macintosh You can’t run Radio Shack programs In its disc drive. Nor can a Commodore 64 Drive […]...
- On this wondrous sea On this wondrous sea Sailing silently, Ho! Pilot, ho! Knowest thou the shore Where no breakers roar Where the storm […]...
- Man Sails The Deep Awhile MAN sails the deep awhile; Loud runs the roaring tide; The seas are wild and wide; O’er many a salt, […]...
- Seaweed When descends on the Atlantic The gigantic Storm-wind of the equinox, Landword in his wrath he scourges The toiling surges, […]...
- Hiawatha's Sailing “Give me of your bark, O Birch-tree! Of your yellow bark, O Birch-tree! Growing by the rushing river, Tall and […]...
- HIS SAILING FROM JULIA When that day comes, whose evening says I’m gone Unto that watery desolation; Devoutly to thy Closet-gods then pray, That […]...
- Sailing To Byzantium I That is no country for old men. The young In one another’s arms, birds in the trees – Those […]...
- Willard Fluke My wife lost her health, And dwindled until she weighed scarce ninety pounds. Then that woman, whom the men Styled […]...
- The Merchant Where sails the ship? It leads the Tyrian forth For the rich amber of the liberal north. Be kind, ye […]...
- Off to the Fishing Ground There’s a piping wind from a sunrise shore Blowing over a silver sea, There’s a joyous voice in the lapsing […]...
- The Ballad of the Calliope By the far Samoan shore, Where the league-long rollers pour All the wash of the Pacific on the coral-guarded bay, […]...
- The Widow Cold was the night wind, drifting fast the snows fell, Wide were the downs and shelterless and naked, When a […]...
- The wanderer Upon a mountain height, far from the sea, I found a shell, And to my listening ear the lonely thing […]...
- Noon I bend to the ground To catch Something whispered, Urgent, drifting Across the ditches. The heaviness of Flies stuttering In […]...
- The Gardener XLII: O Mad, Superbly Drunk O mad, superbly drunk; If you kick open your doors and Play the fool in public; If you empty your […]...
- THE SEA-VOYAGE MANY a day and night my bark stood ready laden; Waiting fav’ring winds, I sat with true friends round me, […]...
- Reason and Passion XV And the priestess spoke again and said: “Speak to us of Reason and Passion.” And he answered saying: Your soul […]...
- Unlyric Love Song It is time to give that-of-myself which I could not at first: To offer you now at last my least […]...
- Well I Remember How You Smiled Well I remember how you smiled To see me write your name upon The soft sea-sand. . . “O! what […]...
- Hostel Beach, Oneroa The cliff sprang from the sea at end of Hostel Beach, If the tide was out you’d reach a tiny […]...
- The Owners Of The Little Box Line the inside of the little box With your precious skin And make yourself cozy Just as you would in […]...
- Low Tide on Grand Pré The sun goes down, and over all These barren reaches by the tide Such unelusive glories fall, I almost dream […]...
- September 1913 What need you, being come to sense, But fumble in a greasy till And add the halfpence to the pence […]...
- Spring Night in Lo-yang Hearing a Flute In what house, the jade flute that sends these dark notes drifting, Scattering on the spring wind that fills Lo-yang? […]...
- The Island Does the wind sing in your ears at night, in the town, Rattling the windows and doors of the cheap-built […]...
- The End of the World Here, at the end of the world, The flowers bleed As if they were hearts, The hearts ooze a darkness […]...
- Tonight I Can Write Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Write, for example, ‘The night is starry And the stars are blue and […]...
- Saddest Poem I can write the saddest poem of all tonight. Write, for instance: “The night is full of stars, And the […]...
- Exiled Searching my heart for its true sorrow, This is the thing I find to be: That I am weary of […]...
- The Stretcher-Bearer My stretcher is one scarlet stain, And as I tries to scrape it clean, I tell you wot I’m sick […]...
- The Red Blaze is the Morning The Red Blaze is the Morning The Violet is Noon The Yellow Day is falling And after that is none […]...
- At leisure is the Soul At leisure is the Soul That gets a Staggering Blow The Width of Life before it spreads Without a thing […]...
- Just Thinking Got up on a cool morning. Leaned out a window. No cloud, no wind. Air that flowers held For awhile. […]...
- Gargoyle I SAW a mouth jeering. A smile of melted red iron ran over it. Its laugh was full of nails […]...
- In the Days of the Golden Rod Across the meadow in brooding shadow I walk to drink of the autumn’s wine The charm of story, the artist’s […]...
- On Dragon Hill Drunk on Dragon Hill tonight, The banished immortal, Great White, Turns among yellow flowers, His smile wide, As his hat […]...
- Wind in the Beechwood The glorying forest shakes and swings with glancing Of boughs that dip and strain; young, slanting sprays Beckon and shift […]...
- My Ships If all the ships I have at sea Should come a-sailing home to me, From sunny lands, and lands of […]...