The Sea
Ere Greece soared, showering sovranties of light,
Ere Rome shook earth with her tremendous tread,
Ere yon blue-feasting sun-god burst blood-red,
Beneath thee slept thy prodigy, O Night!
Aeons have ta'en like dreams their strange, slow flight,
And vastest, tiniest, creatures paved her bed,
E'en cities sapped by the usurping spread
Of her imperious waves have sunk from sight
Since she first chanted her colossal psalms
That swell and sink beneath the listening stars;
Oft, as with myriad drums beating to arms,
She thunders out the grandeur of her wars;
Then shifts through moaning moods her wizard charms
Of slow flutes and caressing, gay guitars.
poem by Arthur Bayldon
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Old Ironsides
Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar; --
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.
Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee; --
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!
Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!
poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Veterans
When the last charge sounds
And the battle thunders o'er the plain,
Thunders o'er the trenches where the red streams flow,
Will it not be well with us,
Veterans, veterans,
If, beneath your torn old flag, we burst upon the foe?
When the last post sounds
And the night is on the battle-field,
Night and rest at last from all the tumult of our wars,
Will it not be well with us,
Veterans, veterans,
If, with duty done like yours, we lie beneath the stars?
When the great réveillé sounds
For the terrible last Sabbath,
All the legions of the dead shall hear the trumpet ring!
Will it not be well with us,
Veterans, veterans,
If, beneath your torn old flag, we rise to meet our King?
poem by Alfred Noyes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Explorer
Dearest, when I left your side,
I stood a moment, hesitating,
And plunged. The boiling tide
Of darkness took me, and down I went
Swift as a bird with folded wing,
And upward sent
The bubbles of my vital breath
That shuddered from my secret deeps
To freedom and light;
Then, dimly, on my sight
Opened the still abode of living death.
Amid the mire,
In which invisibly sightless horror creeps,
Sat, each intent on his own woe,
The host that burns with inward fire,
Crowded like monuments of memorial stone
Beneath a pitchy sky
Where even the flash of tempest dare not show,
Yet each of them alone;
And each was I.
II
Breathless I struggled up,
As if the gloom had arms to clutch at me
And drag and hold,
Until the daylight’s gold
Shook faintly above my dizzy head
And parted suddenly, that I might see
The sky, a sheltering cup
Of hopeful azure, and your eyes of blue,
One promise and yet two
Of harbouring bliss;
And your lips parted and said,
“Shall not we twain
Find joy upon joy on earth
Together and see,
In the kinship of all that has birth
From the mutual reach of desire,
A joy beyond this,
A fire at the heart of the fire?”
And we clung till our spirit was free
As the flame of a kiss.
III
So we soared and the earth fell away, and the region of night
Was melted in limitless day of ineffable light
Till the myriad souls of the dead were united as we,
Themselves, and yet merged in the spread of an infinite sea
The joy that is life, and around us, below and above,
The One that all lovers have found, our eternity, Love.
poem by John Le Gay Brereton
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I Know The Music
All sounds have been as music to my listening:
Pacific lamentations of slow bells,
The crunch of boots on blue snow rosy-glistening,
Shuffle of autumn leaves; and all farewells:
Bugles that sadden all the evening air,
And country bells clamouring their last appeals
Before [the] music of the evening prayer;
Bridges, sonorous under carriage wheels.
Gurgle of sluicing surge through hollow rocks,
The gluttonous lapping of the waves on weeds,
Whisper of grass; the myriad-tinkling flocks,
The warbling drawl of flutes and shepherds' reeds.
The orchestral noises of October nights
Blowing ( ) symphonetic storms
Of startled clarions ( )
Drums, rumbling and rolling thunderous and ( ).
Thrilling of throstles in the keen blue dawn,
Bees fumbling and fuming over sainfoin-fields.
poem by Wilfred Owen
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Where My Plight And Labor In Vain
Where my plight and labor in vain…
Night stretch, stretch again…
Daylight and dreams abroad…
Sleep’s urge, tire retire…
Grant me a muse or amuse…
That night cease, else its turmoil
Enliven the earthly delight, heaven’s design…
Draw close the day…
Or oh! Magnificent eyes cast upon me your sight…
With your grandeur I rise
Fall upon earth’s humble bed…
Wake again to tread…
On Thine footsteps divine…
Holy flight
Early hours of light…
Ablution of soul…
Never before
Steps so firm…
As I follow thee
Tireless toil…
Now it seems…
For all that it was…
poem by Lama Abbas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Slow Dancing
My love is cruel as the night
She steals the sun, and shuts out the light
All of my colors, they turn to blue
Win or lose
She does it slow dancing
Slow dancing
She does it slow...dancing
All night long
Scarlet eyes and a see-through heart
She saw me coming right from the start
She picked me up, but had me down on my knees
Just a beggin her, beggin her please
Take me slow dancing
Slow dancing
She took me slow...dancing
All night long
And I dont know a man
Search for himself in his lovers eyes
No I dont know why a man
Sees the truth but needs the lies
My love is restless as the wind
She moves like a shadow across my skin
She left with my conscience, I dont want it back
It just gets in the way
If you wanna go slow dancing
Slow dancing
She took me slow...dancing
All night long
Slow...dancing
Slow...dancing
Slow...
song performed by by U2
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven
HAD I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
poem by William Butler Yeats
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
poem by William Butler Yeats
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
Vote! | Copy! | In Spanish | In Italian | In Romanian
Under A Blanket Of Blue
Under a blanket of blue
Just you and I beneath the stars.
Wrapped in the arms of sweet romance
The night is ours.
Under a blanket of blue
Let me be thrilled by all your charms
Darling, I know my heart will dance
Within your arms.
A summer nights magic, enthralling me so.
The night would be tragic, if you werent here to shareit my dear,
Covered with heaven above.
Lets dream a dream of love for two,
Wrapped in the arms of sweet romance,
Under a blanket of blue.
song performed by by Ella Fitzgerald
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Stars
ONLY the stars remain to travelers' eyes
Unalterable; the waters change their hue
Beneath the flattery of alien skies
From jade to silver and from bronze to blue.
Sunrise and sunset spread their lovely light
As slow as solemn music in the North;
But southward, like a dart descends the night,
And like a meteor the day breaks forth.
And faiths and manners vary - friends, they say, -
And even lovers of a constant mind; .
Not the light loves we meet upon our way
But those enchained by vows we left behind.
Only unchanged the patterned stars endure,
As when they first assured or threatened man;
Still Vega glitters, crystalline and pure,
Still like an angry eye Aldebaran.
poem by Alice Duer Miller
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Caravan
Night and stars above that shine so bright
The mystery of their fading light
That shines upon our caravan.
Sleep upon my shoulder as we creep
Across the sands so I may keep
The memry of our caravan.
This is so exciting, you are so inviting
Resting in my arms
Thrill to the magic, the magic of your charms
You beside me here beneath the blue
My dream of love is coming true
Within our desert caravan.
This is so exciting, you are so inviting
Resting in my arms
Thrill to the magic, the magic of your charms
Night and stars above that shine so bright
The mystery of their fading light
That shines upon our caravan.
song performed by by Chicago
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Caravan
Night and stars above that shine so bright
The myst'ry of their fading light
That shines upon our caravan
Sleep upon my shoulder as we creep
Across the sand so I may keep
The mem'ry of our caravan
This is so exciting
You are so inviting
Resting in my arms
As I thrill to the magic charms
Of you beside me here beneath the blue
My dream of love is coming true
Within our desert caravan!
song performed by by Ella Fitzgerald
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Remorse. (From August Von Platen)
How I started up in the night, in the night,
Drawn on without rest or reprieval!
The streets, with their watchmen, were lost to my sight,
As I wandered so light
In the night, in the night,
Through the gate with the arch mediaeval.
The mill-brook rushed from the rocky height,
I leaned o'er the bridge in my yearning;
Deep under me watched I the waves in their flight,
As they glided so light
In the night, in the night,
Yet backward not one was returning.
O'erhead were revolving, so countless and bright,
The stars in melodious existence;
And with them the moon, more serenely bedight;--
They sparkled so light
In the night, in the night,
Through the magical, measureless distance.
And upward I gazed in the night, in the night,
And again on the waves in their fleeting;
Ah woe! thou hast wasted thy days in delight,
Now silence thou light,
In the night, in the night,
The remorse in thy heart that is beating.
poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Wind Was There
I
all was in flight
wild geese in the sky
snow from the sky flying
rivers hastening to the sea
and waves from the midsea
hastening to the shore
horses running from a fence
fences running from the ground
ground fleeing from the sky
and the sky was filled with flying stars
and suns innumerable
daisies springing from the grass
pines fleeing up the mountainside
even the mountain was in flight
less swift than southward geese
or rivers in the spring
less swift than these but fleeing still
stone upon stone scraping in slow erosion
gravel grinding into dust and fleeing before the wind
II
all was in flight
even from a distance I
my flight was faster than a fleeing cloud
I only knew the wind was there
swift and imperious and proud
sharper than fine steel
III
so shall I ever flee
swifter yet swifter
until the speed is such
my spirit shall enkindle with the wind
and then
a brown and crackled leaf I'll fall
my flesh to shrivel into mould
my blood to mingle with the seeping rain
and all my body's flight become a strange return
poem by Bravig Imbs
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Butterfly (The Mirror Sestet Poetry)
Delight adorns butterfly’s fluttering wings in flight,
Flight is his beauty for anemones to delight.
Wing flitters freely and his fragile moods can swing,
Swing dances he teaches the white flowers with his wing.
Breeze finds him out among the blooming buckeye red trees,
Trees push his innocent virgin spirit in the breeze.
Dance nurtures the flower to put her into deep trance,
Trance is his way to gather pollen for her life dance.
Dreams fiery rise in crimson, when the flower gleams,
Gleams of dawn in the east are his love powerful dreams.
Charms are her powers to spread fragrances in his arms
Arms are his wings when he flies to search for other charms.
poem by Marieta Maglas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
On The Road To Waterloo: 17 October (En Vigilante, 2 Hours)
It is grey tingling azure overhead
With silver drift. Beneath, where from the green
The trees are reared, the distance stands between
At peace: and on this side the whole is spread
For sowing and for harvest, subjected
Clear to the sky and wind. The sun's slow height
Holds it through noon, and at the furthest night
It lies to the moist starshine and is fed.
Sometimes there is no country seen (for miles
You think) because of the near roadside path
Dense with long forest. Where the waters run
They have the sky sunk into them—a bath
Of still blue heat; and in their flow, at whiles,
There is a blinding vortex of the sun.
poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Slow Boat To China
Lets take a slow boat to china. leave from south carolina
Lets take our time and go the long way
On a junk boat to thailand with your hand in mine hand
I sure hope we got something to say
Well, this old boats go no sail so wont you please hold our mail-
For awhile
Thanks anyway pal but the suez canal -
Aint our style
Lets take a slow boat to china and maybe well find a
New way to play those same old games
The stars just might show us and the captain will know us
Shake our hands and call us by our first names
Well send a postcard to grandpa of a vase or rickshaw-
He dont care
Well buy mom a kimono or maybe well just phone her -
When were there
Well drink sake at night beneath the soft harbor lights-
On the bay
Well build house on the hill next to shangri-li bill -
And well stay
Lets take that slow boat to china (lets go)
Slow boat to china (real slow)
Slow boat to china (lets go)
Slow boat to china (real slow)
Lets go real slow
song performed by by John Prine
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
In The Harbour: Chimes
Sweet chimes! that in the loneliness of night
Salute the passing hour, and in the dark
And silent chambers of the household mark
The movements of the myriad orbs of light!
Through my closed eyelids, by the inner sight,
I see the constellations in the arc
Of their great circles moving on, and hark!
I almost hear them singing in their flight.
Better than sleep it is to lie awake,
O'er-canopied by the vast starry dome
Of the immeasurable sky; to feel
The slumbering world sink under us, and make
Hardly an eddy,--a mere rush of foam
On the great sea beneath a sinking keel.
poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Five Images
I
A naked body
bronze as the sun
poises against the sky
to dive,
then flings his form
into the tide,
parting waters
without a splash,
like the day sliding
beneath the sky.
II
The day is sliding
beneath the sky,
slipping away soundlessly,
like a diver
parting waters without a splash.
III
The bronze that tanned his body
slips below the lip of earth,
as bit by bit blue turns to gray;
And the sea darkens as it swallows
the single diver and the sun.
IV
The day drains
beneath the sky
as the lip of earth
fuses with and enters
the blue-gray parted waters
of the eastern sky,
and stars bit by bit
find their light.
V
The sun beneath the sky
so silently sank away,
I had not noticed its descent,
until I rubbed my eyed from strain
and turned on the light.
poem by Lillian Susan Thomas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Subway Musician
I saw her sitting in the subway
Next to a column
Wall-papered with advertisements.
She held an acoustic guitar,
And brushed her fingers against
The phosphor bronze strings,
And each note she plucked
Wrung clearly as a silver bell,
Or like one in a cathedral tower.
She sang her song to the spaces
Between the people
As they walked around her,
Deafened by their own busy lives
And the footsteps,
The conversations
Of others.
She was unaccompanied.
There was no drum beat,
Only the soft tapping thump of her heart—
Beating, beating, beating
Slow into the emptiness
Of the crowd consuming her.
It coupled with the clattering polyrhythms
The train created as it shook the track
Beneath its wheels,
All the while muffling her voice
As she tried to sing above it,
As she tried to strain her expression,
So it may be heard.
I saw her.
I watched her sing for someone that doesn't exist.
Someone that isn't real to anyone,
Except for her,
Though she knows she's lying to herself.
The aching breaks in her heart
Crack her voice in a way that the pain
Resonates from her chest,
Filling mine with a swell of longing.
At that moment,
That swell feels like a soul to me,
And I wish—
Oh, I wish—
She were singing to me.
She seems to know this feeling
That can't be explained in words,
That can't be articulated in sound,
That can't be understood
Until on feels it.
She seems to know how I am listening,
Lost inside the spell
Of her magic melodies,
And I would dream to harmonize
With the intimate tones
That she releases with passion,
But, the same as her,
I'm only writing my song,
And singing it here,
For someone who doesn't exist—
Not to anyone,
But me.
poem by Tim Stensloff
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!