Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AN ENGLISHMAN'S SEA-DIRGE, by ANONYMOUS First Line: "there are certain things - as a spider, a ghost" Last Line: We're returning from the sea! Subject(s): Sea; Ocean | ||||||||
There are certain things -- as, a spider, a ghost, The income-tax, gout, an umbrella for three -- That I hate, but the thing that I hate the most Is a thing they call the Sea. Pour some salt water over the floor -- Ugly I'm sure you'll allow it to be; Suppose it extended a mile or more, That's very like the Sea. Beat a dog till it howls outright -- Cruel, but all very well for a spree: Suppose that he did so day and night, That would be like the Sea. I had a vision of nursery-maids; Tens of thousands passed by me -- All leading children with wooden spades, And this was by the Sea. Who invented those spades of wood? Who was it cut them out of the tree? None, I think, but an idiot could -- Or one that loved the Sea. It is pleasant and dreamy, no doubt, to float With "thoughts as boundless, and souls as free': But, suppose you are very unwell in the boat, How do you like the Sea? "But it makes the intellect clear and keen' -- Prove it! Prove it! How can that be? "Why, what does "B sharp" (in music) mean, If not "the natural C"?' What! Keen? With such questions as "When's high tide?' "Is shelling shrimps an improvement to tea?' "Were donkeys intended for man to ride?' Such are our thoughts by the Sea. There is an insect that people avoid (Whence is derived the verb "to flee'). Where have you been by it most annoyed? In lodgings by the Sea. If you like your coffee with sand for dregs, A decided hint of salt in your tea, And a fish taste in the very eggs -- By all means choose the Sea. And if, with these dainties to drink and eat, You prefer not a vestige of grass or tree, And a chronic state of wet in your feet, Then -- I recommend the Sea. For I have friends who dwell by the coast -- Pleasant friends they are to me! It is when I am with them I wonder most That anyone likes the Sea. They take me a walk: though tired and stiff, To climb the heights I madly agree; And, after a tumble or so from the cliff, They kindly suggest the Sea. I try the rocks, and I think it cool That they laugh with such an excess of glee, As I heavily slip into every pool That skirts the cold cold Sea. Once I met a friend in the street, With wife, and nurse, and children three: Never again such a sight may I meet As that party from the Sea. Their cheeks were hollow, their steps were slow, Convicted felons they seemed to be: "Are you going to prison, dear friend?' "Oh, no! We're returning from the Sea!' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HALL OF OCEAN LIFE by JOHN HOLLANDER JULY FOURTH BY THE OCEAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS BOATS IN A FOG by ROBINSON JEFFERS CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE FIGUREHEAD by LEONIE ADAMS TIS A LITTLE JOURNEY by ANONYMOUS |
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