Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TWO VOYAGES, by LEWIS MORRIS (1833-1907) Poet's Biography First Line: Two ships which meet upon the ocean waste Last Line: To one dark harbour and invisible goal. Subject(s): Sea Voyages | ||||||||
Two ships which meet upon the ocean waste, And stay a little while, and interchange Tidings from two strange lands, which lie beneath Each its own heaven and particular stars, And fain would tarry; but the impatient surge Calls, and a cold wind from the setting sun Divides them, and they sadly drift apart, And fade, and sink, and vanish, 'neath the verge -- One to the parching plains and seething seas Smitten by the tyrannous Sun, where Mind alone Withers amid the bounteous outerworld, And prodigal Nature dwarfs and chains the man -- One to cold rains, rude winds, and hungry waves Spilt on the frowning granite, niggard suns, And snows and mists which starve the vine and palm, But nourish to more glorious growth the man. One to the scentless flowers and songless birds, Swift storms and poison stings and ravening jaws: One to spring violets and nightingales, Sleek-coated kine and honest gray-eyed skies. One to lie helpless on the stagnant sea, Or sink in sleep beneath the hurricane: One to speed on, white-winged, through summer airs, Or sow the rocks with ruin -- who shall tell? So with two souls which meet on life's broad deep, And cling together but may not stay; for Time And Age and chills of Absence wear the links Which bind them, and they part for evermore -- One to the tropic lands of fame and gold, And feverish thirst and weariness of soul; One to long struggles and a wintry life, Decked with one sweet white bloom of happy love. For each, one fate, to live and die apart, Save for some passing smile of kindred souls; Then drift away alone, on opposite tides, To one dark harbour and invisible goal. | 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 A CAROL by LEWIS MORRIS (1833-1907) |
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