Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DARK OF THE MOON, by                    
First Line: Diana's crescent ship, / by silver chain and lock
Last Line: While hermes has his tryst.
Subject(s): Absence; Grief; Separation; Isolation; Sorrow; Sadness


DIANA'S crescent ship,
By silver chain and lock,
Lay anchored in the slip
Of Pluto's secret dock.

Apollo, from his race
First-fought across the skies,
Drew rein with angry face
In ancient paradise.

Beside a sapphire stream
That fed the steeds of Day,
Enthralled in love-lit dream
The faithless Hermes lay.

"Awake! and take thy wings!
(The sun-god plied his whip)
And bid these underlings
To launch Diana's ship.

"Be sure thou do not fail,
On thee, fool, worlds await,
And this, her first night sail,
Must not be launched a-late."

Then Hermes, nursing wrath,
In silence took his flight,
And though down Pluto's path,
Reached not the court of night,

But met, full-gowned in sheaf,
Proserpine, his love,
And from the realms of Grief
Escorted her above.

And thus the crescent ship
From its Lethean clime
Left not the secret slip
At its appointed time.

When from the azure sea
Diana's barque is missed,
'T is waiting in the lee
While Hermes has his tryst.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net