Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WITH GLEAMING SAIL, by EVELYN GAIL GARDINER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WITH GLEAMING SAIL, by                    
First Line: Speeding before the gale
Last Line: Who would be other than gayest of gay?
Subject(s): Play; Sailing & Sailors; Sports; Waves; Seamen; Sails


SPEEDING before the gale
Lightly with gleaming sail,
Gaily the little boat skims o'er the deep;
Strikes she the waves abreast,
Leaping from crest to crest,
Bounding along with a rhythmical sweep.

White-caps in firefly play
Spangle the sparkling bay
Streaked with long paths of smooth green, starred with foam.
Clouds that in squadrons white
Rush on in boisterous flight,
Hide the sun's rays and the heavens' blue dome.

Waves are a-dashing in,
Spray is a-splashing in,
Cooling hot cheeks with a spattering mist.
The wind with its thousand hands
Catches soft hair in strands,
Tossing and tangling — 't is vain to resist.

Now as the breezes blow,
Bends the boat starboard, low,
Cutting a gurgling furrow of green.
Hear the waves strike her prow,
Thudding and splashing now,
Rev'ling like mischievous spirits unseen.

What is all trouble worth?
Is there a care on earth?
Not while the winds and the waves are at play!
Speeding before the gale
Lightly with gleaming sail,
Who would be other than gayest of gay?





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