Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HARBOUR FOG, by THOMAS WALSH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE HARBOUR FOG, by                    
First Line: Fog in the harbour, - sky and waterway
Last Line: "none is self-pilot on the harbour tide."
Alternate Author Name(s): Gill, Roderick; Strange, Garrett
Subject(s): Fog; Harbors; Haze


FOG in the harbour,—sky and waterway
Lost in a phantom otherworld, where boom
Of funnels and the sharp "Give room, give room!"
Of bells and paddles speak the night's dismay.
Their sheer, sky-shouldering cities swathed in grey,
The crowded ferries probe their paths of gloom
Along the wharves of home, the cliffs of doom,
Like glowworms in a cobweb void astray.

Hope in the homeward-toiling hearts, and fear
But half-confessed; their pulses urge,—yet no,
Some warning bell of reason tolls, "Not here
Is trust in self enough; a higher guide
Of mutual faith must rule you as you go;
None is self-pilot on the harbour tide."





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