The Harbour

Related poetry:

1. In Harbour I. Goodnight and goodbye to the life whose signs denote us As mourners clothed with regret for the life gone by; To the waters of gloom whence winds of the dayspring float us Goodnight and goodbye. A time is for mourning, a season for grief to sigh; But were we not fools and blind, by […]...
2. "What says the sea, little shell?&quot “What says the sea, little shell? What says the sea? Long has our brother been silent to us, Kept his message for the ships, Awkward ships, stupid ships.” “The sea bids you mourn, O Pines, Sing low in the moonlight. He sends tale of the land of doom, Of place where endless falls A rain […]...
3. Lost Anchors Like a dry fish flung inland far from shore, There lived a sailor, warped and ocean-browned, Who told of an old vessel, harbor-drowned, And out of mind a century before, Where divers, on descending to explore A legend that had lived its way around The world of ships, in the dark hulk had found Anchors, […]...
4. Memoriam A. H. H.: 67. When on my bed the moonlight fall When on my bed the moonlight falls, I know that in thy place of rest By that broad water of the west, There comes a glory on the walls: Thy marble bright in dark appears, As slowly steals a silver flame Along the letters of thy name, And o’er the number of thy years. The […]...
5. The Glory of Ships The glory of ships is an old, old song, Since the days when the sea-rovers ran In their open boats through the roaring surf, And the spread of the world began; The glory of ships is a light on the sea, And a star in the story of man. When Homer sang of the galleys […]...
6. The Wreck Of The 'Derry Castle&#039 Day of ending for beginnings! Ocean hath another innings, Ocean hath another score; And the surges sing his winnings, And the surges shout his winnings, And the surges shriek his winnings, All along the sullen shore. Sing another dirge in wailing, For another vessel sailing With the shadow-ships at sea; Shadow-ships for ever sinking Shadow-ships […]...
7. The Playground of Life XIX One hour devoted to the pursuit of Beauty And Love is worth a full century of glory Given by the frightened weak to the strong. From that hour comes man’s Truth; and During that century Truth sleeps between The restless arms of disturbing dreams. In that hour the soul sees for herself The Natural Law, […]...
8. Nocturne of the Wharves All night they whine upon their ropes and boom Against the dock with helpless prows: These little ships that are too worn for sailing Front the wharf but do not rest at all. Tugging at the dim gray wharf they think No doubt of China and of bright Bombay, And they remember islands of the […]...
9. I Wonder What It Feels Like to be Drowned? Look at my knees, That island rising from the steamy seas! The candles a tall lightship; my two hands Are boats and barges anchored to the sands, With mighty cliffs all round; They’re full of wine and riches from far lands…. I wonder what it feels like to be drowned? I can make caves, By […]...
10. The Three Fishers 1 Three fishers went sailing away to the west, 2 Away to the west as the sun went down; 3 Each thought on the woman who loved him the best, 4 And the children stood watching them out of the town; 5 For men must work, and women must weep, 6 And there’s little to […]...
11. Ears In The Turrets Hear Ears in the turrets hear Hands grumble on the door, Eyes in the gables see The fingers at the locks. Shall I unbolt or stay Alone till the day I die Unseen by stranger-eyes In this white house? Hands, hold you poison or grapes? Beyond this island bound By a thin sea of flesh And […]...
12. Argus When wise Ulysses, from his native coast Long kept by wars, and long by tempests toss’d, Arrived at last, poor, old, disguised, alone, To all his friends, and ev’n his Queen unknown, Changed as he was, with age, and toils, and cares, Furrow’d his rev’rend face, and white his hairs, In his own palace forc’d […]...
13. The Shakespeare Memorial Lord Lilac thought it rather rotten That Shakespeare should be quite forgotten, And therefore got on a Committee With several chaps out of the City, And Shorter and Sir Herbert Tree, Lord Rothschild and Lord Rosebery, And F. C. G. and Comyn Carr Two dukes and a dramatic star, Also a clergy man now dead; […]...
14. Buddhist Barbie In the 5th century B. C. An Indian philosopher Gautama teaches “All is emptiness” And “There is no self.” In the 20th century A. D. Barbie agrees, but wonders how a man With such a belly could pose, Smiling, and without a shirt....
15. Psalm 78 part 2 Israel’s rebellion and punishment. O What a stiff rebellious house Was Jacob’s ancient race! False to their own most solemn vows, And to their Maker’s grace. They broke the cov’nant of his love, And did his laws despise; Forgot the works he wrought to prove His power before their eyes. They saw the plagues on […]...
16. I Met A Genius I met a genius on the train Today About 6 years old, He sat beside me And as the train Ran down along the coast We came to the ocean And then he looked at me And said, It’s not pretty. It was the first time I’d Realized That....
17. Peace after a Storm When darkness long has veil’d my mind, And smiling day once more appears, Then, my Redeemer, then I find The folly of my doubts and fears. Straight I upbraid my wandering heart, And blush that I should ever be Thus prone to act so base a part, Or harbour one hard thought of Thee! Oh! […]...
18. A Girl Sang a Song A girl sang a song in the temple’s chorus, About men, tired in alien lands, About the ships that left native shores, And all who forgot their joy to the end. Thus sang her clean voice, and flew up to the highness, And sunbeams shined on her shoulder’s white And everyone saw and heard from […]...
19. Vienna, December 1999 I watched The winter light die from the bridge, The sky a sinking empire’s battleship, Ice floes’ jagged edges Clink their cold toast To a stilled Danube. Johann Strauss Would have committed Himself to Wagnerian depression On a night just like this; Streetlights sputter Matchstick desperation Relinquishing desperate light, Shadow-glaciers crawl The alleys in deafness: […]...
20. The Pines We sleep in the sleep of ages, the bleak, barbarian pines; The gray moss drapes us like sages, and closer we lock our lines, And deeper we clutch through the gelid gloom where never a sunbeam shines. On the flanks of the storm-gored ridges are our black battalions massed; We surge in a host to […]...
21. The Ships that Won't Go Down We hear a great commotion ‘Bout the ship that comes to grief, That founders in mid-ocean, Or is driven on a reef; Because it’s cheap and brittle A score of sinners drown. But we hear but mighty little Of the ships that won’t go down. Here’s honour to the builders – The builders of the […]...
22. There is a word There is a word Which bears a sword Can pierce an armed man It hurls its barbed syllables And is mute again But where it fell The saved will tell On patriotic day, Some epauletted Brother Gave his breath away. Wherever runs the breathless sun Wherever roams the day There is its noiseless onset There […]...
23. Ode To a Large Tuna in the Market Among the market greens, A bullet From the ocean Depths, A swimming Projectile, I saw you, Dead. All around you Were lettuces, Sea foam Of the earth, Carrots, Grapes, But Of the ocean Truth, Of the unknown, Of the Unfathomable Shadow, the Depths Of the sea, The abyss, Only you had survived, A pitch-black, varnished […]...
24. Psalm 46 part 1 The church’s safety and triumph among national desolation. God is the refuge of his saints, When storms of sharp distress invade Ere we can offer our complaints, Behold him present with his aid. Let mountains from their seats be hurled Down to the deep, and buried there, Convulsions shake the solid world, Our faith shall […]...
25. Misgivings When ocean-clouds over inland hills Sweep storming in late autumn brown, And horror the sodden valley fills, And the spire falls crashing in the town, I muse upon my country’s ills The tempest burning from the waste of Time On the world’s fairest hope linked with man’s foulest crime. Nature’s dark side is heeded now […]...
26. Brave New World One spoke: “Come, let us gaily go With laughter, love and lust, Since in a century or so We’ll all be boneyard dust. When unborn shadows hold the screen, (Our betters, I’ll allow) ‘Twill be as if we’d never been, A hundred years from now. When we have played life’s lively game Right royally we’ll […]...
27. The Warden of the Cinque Ports A mist was driving down the British Channel, The day was just begun, And through the window-panes, on floor and panel, Streamed the red autumn sun. It glanced on flowing flag and rippling pennon, And the white sails of ships; And, from the frowning rampart, the black cannon Hailed it with feverish lips. Sandwich and […]...
28. Odysseus Seeking to find his home, Odysseus crosses each water; Through Charybdis so dread; ay, and through Scylla’s wild yells, Through the alarms of the raging sea, the alarms of the land too, E’en to the kingdom of hell leads him his wandering course. And at length, as he sleeps, to Ithaca’s coast fate conducts him; […]...
29. Psalm 118 part 4 v.24-26 C. M. Hosanna; the Lord’s day; or, Christ’s resurrection and our salvation. This is the day the Lord hath made, He calls the hours his own; Let heav’n rejoice, let earth be glad, And praise surround the throne. Today he rose and left the dead, And Satan’s empire fell; Today the saints his triumphs […]...
30. Jealousy VAIN Love, why do’st thou boast of Wings, That cannot help thee to retire! When such quick Flames Suspicion brings, As do the Heart about thee fire. Still Swift to come, but when to go Thou shou’d’st be more-Alas! how Slow. Lord of the World must surely be But thy bare Title at the most; […]...
31. The Fairy Bridal-Hymn [This is the hymn to Eleanor, daughter of Mab and a golden drone, sung by the Locust choir when the fairy child marries her God, the yellow rose] This is a song to the white-armed one Cold in the breast as the frost-wrapped Spring, Whose feet are slow on the hills of life, Whose round […]...
32. The Revenge – A Ballad of the Fleet At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay, And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came flying from far away: ‘Spanish ships of war at sea! we have sighted’ Then sware Lord Thomas Howard: ”Fore God I am no coward; But I cannot meet them here, for my ships are out of gear, And […]...
33. THE WITNESSES In Ocean’s wide domains, Half buried in the sands, Lie skeletons in chains, With shackled feet and hands. Beyond the fall of dews, Deeper than plummet lies, Float ships, with all their crews, No more to sink nor rise. There the black Slave-ship swims, Freighted with human forms, Whose fettered, fleshless limbs Are not the […]...
34. Psalm 113 Proper tune. The majesty and condescension of God. Ye that delight to serve the Lord, The honors of his name record, His sacred name for ever bless; Where’er the circling sun displays His rising beams, or setting rays, Let lands and seas his power confess. Not time, nor nature’s narrow rounds, Can give his vast […]...
35. The Consecrating Mother I stand before the sea And it rolls and rolls in its green blood Saying, “Do not give up one god For I have a handful.” The trade winds blew In their twelve-fingered reversal And I simply stood on the beach While the ocean made a cross of salt And hung up its drowned And […]...
36. City of Ships CITY of ships! (O the black ships! O the fierce ships! O the beautiful, sharp-bow’d steam-ships and sail-ships!) City of the world! (for all races are here; All the lands of the earth make contributions here;) City of the sea! city of hurried and glittering tides! City whose gleeful tides continually rush or recede, whirling […]...
37. The Beach Louder than gulls the little children scream Whom fathers haul into the jovial foam; But others fearlessly rush in, breast high, Laughing the salty water from their mouthes Heroes of the nursery. The horny boatman, who has seen whales And flying fishes, who has sailed as far As Demerara and the Ivory Coast, Will warn […]...
38. The Victory of Patience Armed of the gods! Divinest conqueror! What soundless hosts are thine! Nor pomp, nor state, Nor token, to betray where thou dost wait. All Nature stands, for thee, ambassador; Her forces all thy serfs, for peace or war. Greatest and least alike, thou rul’st their fate, The avalanch chained until its century’s date, The mulberry […]...
39. Favrile Glassmakers, At century’s end, Compounded metallic lusters In reference To natural sheens (dragonfly And beetle wings, Marbled light on kerosene) And invented names As coolly lustrous As their products’ Scarab-gleam: Quetzal, Aurene, Favrile. Suggesting, Respectively, the glaze Of feathers, That sun-shot fog Of which halos Are composed, And what? What to make of Favrile, Tiffany’s […]...
40. Master And Mistress As if I were composed of dust and air, The shape confronting me upon the stair (Athlete of shadow, lighted by a stain On its disjunctive breast I saw it plain ) Moved through my middle flesh. I turned around, Shaken and it was marching without sound Beyond the door; and when my hand was […]...