Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PENISKEE, by THOMAS GOLD APPLETON First Line: Not vainly homer saw it in a dream Last Line: Shine like a load-star o'er the waters wide. Subject(s): Penikese Island, Massachusetts | ||||||||
NOT vainly Homer saw it in a dream, Circling the world and bounding continents; Our shore is girdled by an Ocean Stream, Which nearest to the Vineyard Sound indents. There fringing the azure deep are happy isles, Which swim in warmth of Equatorial seas, And gladden in the gracious Summer's smiles, -- The smallest, nearest us is Penikese. A string of pearls they lie on Ocean's breast, Steeped in a languor brought them from afar, And drowse through summer days in silent rest, Kissed by mild waves and loved of moon and star. Once the shy Indian saw his shadow shake Across the wave, as he withdrew his spear From the struck bass, or heard within the brake The tender grass torn by the feeding deer. Those dumb, waste centuries of loss are o'er, A better, nobler day to them succeeds: Now Science rears her watch-tower by the shore, Round it are scholars whom a teacher leads. The light within the watch-tower is his mind, Cosmic, with forms of life which end in man; There all the tribes their place in order find, As if he read the thought of God's own plan. Oh! happy ones who read the book of life, Till ye through him in wisdom daily grow, To find how far above Earth's barren strife Is the soul's hunger -- toil divine -- to know. What pastoral lives of true simplicity! Plain living and high thinking, with the bond Between them of a lofty sympathy, Whose circlet rings this world and worlds beyond. Hail! generous heart which gave its home of years! Hail, too, ye youth who lean on such a guide! Long may the shrine which now glad Science rears Shine like a load-star o'er the waters wide. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BEVERLY SHORE IN WINTER by THOMAS GOLD APPLETON LAUTERBRUNNEN by THOMAS GOLD APPLETON SUNSET FROM OMAHA HOTEL WINDOW by CARL SANDBURG THE FLOOD OF YEARS by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT MONNA INNOMINATA, A SONNET OF SONNETS: 4 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI ON HEARING THAT THE STUDENTS OF OUR NEW UNIVERSITY JOINED AGITATION .. by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS A PETITION by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH A GARDEN SPOT by PRINGLE BARRET THE SONG OF HER by WILLIAM ROSE BENET AN ANCIENT GODDESS; IN TWO PICTURES by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |
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