Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HENDECASYLLABLES, by D. M. LOW


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HENDECASYLLABLES, by                    
First Line: Come children, come away, to where the tawny
Last Line: Playing, dancing away the careless evening.
Subject(s): Children; Oxford University; Seashore; Childhood; Beach; Coast; Shore


COME children, come away, to where the tawny
Sands are drying; away; the idle ocean
Chides no longer against the pebbly margent,
But runs gently slipping slipping, from all the
Long flat shelves through loose channels: the evening
Breeze calls fitfully, whisperingly. Come then,
Pert fairies, dapper elves such as the maskers
At Ludlow following the tipsy Comus
Sang of; sprites such as Ariel commanded
Save those wrack'd mariners amid the tempest.
Here ocean spreadeth out the wealth of unplumb'd
Depths: mermaid's tresses and the sleek ribbon-weed
Lie strown; here a crab or an eerie starfish,
Here are shells labyrinthine, intricately
Winding, snails' caravans, mussels' shallow homes.
Ply your spades, magic instruments to conjure
High castles mediaeval, elfy fabrics.
Run your races along the hard-washed sand,
O flush'd cheeks, flashing eyes, the noisy laughter.
Soon will rise the flood, irresistible tide
With strength murmuring, and the night come over,
And soon winter approaches on the rain cloud.
But ye know the sun aye returneth, always
Tides flow and ebb adown unaltering shores;
And ye hope ever each summer returning
Will bring surely pleasures the same without change --
Come children, hither; out upon the broad sands
Playing, dancing away the careless evening.





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