Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SONGS IN ABSENCE: 5, by ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Come back, come back, behold with straining mast Last Line: The strong ship follows its appointed way. Subject(s): Homesickness; Sea Voyages | ||||||||
COME back, come back, behold with straining mast And swelling sail, behold her steaming fast; With one new sun to see her voyage o'er, With morning light to touch her native shore. Come back, come back. Come back, come back, while westward labouring by, With sailless yards, a bare black hulk we fly. See how the gale we fight with sweeps her back, To our lost home, on our forsaken track. Come back, come back. Come back, come back, across the flying foam, We hear faint far-off voices call us home, Come back, ye seem to say; ye seek in vain; We went, we sought, and homeward turned again. Come back, come back. Come back, come back; and whither back or why? To fan quenched hopes, forsaken schemes to try; Walk the old fields; pace the familiar street; Dream with the idlers, with the bards compete. Come back, come back. Come back, come back; and whither and for what? To finger idly some old Gordian knot, Unskilled to sunder, and too weak to cleave, And with much toil attain to half-believe. Come back, come back. Come back, come back; yea back, indeed, do go Sighs panting thick, and tears that want to flow; Fond fluttering hopes upraise their useless wings, And wishes idly struggle in the strings; Come back, come back. Come back, come back, more eager than the breeze, The flying fancies sweep across the seas, And lighter far than ocean's flying foam, The heart's fond message hurries to its home. Come back, come back. Come back, come back! Back files the foam; the hoisted flag streams back; The long smoke wavers on the homeward track, Back fly with winds things which the winds obey, The strong ship follows its appointed way. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN ABEYANCE by DENISE LEVERTOV LEAVING FOREVER by DENISE LEVERTOV SAILING HOME FROM RAPALLO by ROBERT LOWELL SHACKLETON by MADELINE DEFREES QE2. TRANSATLANTIC CROSSING. THIRD DAY. by RITA DOVE MANHATTAN, 1609 by EDWIN MARKHAM CROSSING THE ATLANTIC by ANNE SEXTON THE INDIA WHARF by SARA TEASDALE WITH WHOM IS NO VARIABLENESS, NEITHER SHADOW OF TURNING' by ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH |
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