Hayeswater
A region desolate and wild.
Black, chafing water: and afloat,
And lonely as a truant child
In a waste wood, a single boat:
No mast, no sails are set thereon;
It moves, but never moveth on:
And welters like a human thing
Amid the wild waves weltering.
Behind, a buried vale doth sleep,
Far down the torrent cleaves its way:
In front the dumb rock rises steep,
A fretted wall of blue and grey;
Of shooting cliff and crumbled stone
With many a wild weed overgrown:
All else, black water: and afloat,
One rood from shore, that single boat.
poem by Matthew Arnold
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Friend-Ship
My friendship is sinking,
I'm bailing out water as fast as I can,
Move too quickly the boat will tip over,
Move too slowly the faster it will sink,
Seconds away from abandoning ship,
But there's land in sight,
So close to shore,
Tying a rope to the boat,
Jumping into the water,
The water is so cold,
Pulling the boat to shore,
Moving too slowly,
Waves threatening to take the boat away,
Waves threatening to take me away,
Suddenly the shore seems so far away,
Waves fill the boat with water,
The burden of the weight of the water,
Becomes unbearable,
The rope is pulled out of my hands,
And the boat sinks,
Pulling me under,
I swim to the surface,
Swim to shore,
Once on shore I look back,
There is nothing left of the Friend-ship
poem by Mandy Author2
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Friend-Ship
My friendship is sinking,
I'm bailing out water as fast as I can,
Move too quickly the boat will tip over,
Move too slowly the faster it will sink,
Seconds away from abandoning ship,
But there's land in sight,
So close to shore,
Tying a rope to the boat,
Jumping into the water,
The water is so cold,
Pulling the boat to shore,
Moving too slowly,
Waves threatening to take the boat away,
Waves threatening to take me away,
Suddenly the shore seems so far away,
Waves fill the boat with water,
The burden of the weight of the water,
Becomes unbearable,
The rope is pulled out of my hands,
And the boat sinks,
Pulling me under,
I swim to the surface,
Swim to shore,
Once on shore I look back,
There is nothing left of the Friend-ship
poem by Mandy Author
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Sea-Saw (more writing fun)
If I saw a wood boat afloat
Upon the sea,
Would what I see possibly be
The wood I cut from a tree?
For when I saw a tree
I would like to think I see,
What the wood I saw
Could be.
If all I saw in wood from a tree
Was all I saw that there was to see,
Would what I did saw
Be the wood that I now see?
And if the wood I once did saw
Was indeed made into that ship on the sea,
Would it even be possible to know that here what I see
Is the wood once sawed by me?
All I here would dare to share is:
I see what I saw, and I saw what I see,
And therefore the wood I do saw could one day be
The boat I may see, afloat upon the sea.
See?
poem by Smoky Hoss
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Goldrush
Bless my heart and soul
I've discovered gold
Spread the news around
Get the ship afloat
A rock and roll the boat
Let's get into town
I am living down by the creek
Getting mired in the mud
No liquor for a week
I feel the cold in my blood
Here's a very busy lady
On her knees in the sludge
Well I do believe she's crazy
You know she's working like a drudge
Bless my heart and soul
She's discovered gold
Spread the news around
Get the ship afloat
A rock and roll the boat
And let's get into town
Even though she smelt like a drain
She's an angel to me
Her intentions are plain
And the whiskey is free
Breaking out another bottle
Keep it cool in the dirt
Well it's a water baby heaven
I got the papers in my shirt
Bless my heart and soul
We've discovered gold
Spread the news around
Get the ship afloat
A rock and roll the boat
And let's get into town
Bless my heart and soul
We've discovered gold
Spread the news around
Get the ship afloat
A rock and roll the boat
And let's get into town
You work hard all your life little honey
But you can't afford to save any money
You lay it down you leave the town
To see what you could find
For more than 20 years you're a diggin'
Then you can't believe what you are a pickin'
It's a piece of change just like a mountain range
Whoopee we're gonna lay it down
song performed by by Supertramp
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Let There Be Hope
Boats afloat,
across an ocean moat
Sailing away,
a tyrants torment
With joyous rapture,
T'ward a life content.
rickety, leaking boat
Let there be hope.
Boats of hope,
human tragedy afloat
Sailing away,
a homelands fear
On terrorful waves
Closer now, sanctuary near.
listing, ailing boat,
Let there be hope.
Boats without hope,
Human misery, afloat
Sailing away,
from a life content
With sorrow filled hearts.
recapitulated, now their torment.
Scuttled, sinking boat,
let there be hope.
Boats nae float,
beneath an ocean moat
Sailing away,
a savior of deception
An islands hopeless souls
shattered dreams of redemption.
Fractured, sunken boat
let there be hope.
Stop the boats afloat,
across an ocean moat
Sailing t'ward,
asylum signed veracious
People who pride, 'fair go '
ah, but leaders are mendacious.
Rickety, Leaking Shattered Boat
please, let there be hope.
poem by Phil Charters
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Water On The Brain
(hicks / clarke / nash)
Ive just come in from out of the rain
Its wet outside the water runs down a drain
I go to bed cause my heads full of pain
And drip drip its driving me wild
Drip drip its driving me wild
Outside the window theres a pipe wearing thin
It lets the water do a dance on a tin
I try to sleep but its making a din
And drip drip its driving me wild
Drip drip its driving me wild
Water on the brain water on the brain
Water on the brain water on the brain
Drip drip its driving me wild
Drip drip its driving me wild
I toss and turn and my patience is weak
Go to the bathroom door and I take a peak yeah
The bath tap has started a leak
And drip drip its driving me wild
Drip drip its driving me wild
Drip drip its driving me wild
Drip drip its driving me wild
song performed by by Hollies
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sea Of Dead Ships
A light from heaven flickers gently on the waves.
As a boat rocks merrily, above a sea of dead men’s graves.
Colours of the rainbows, spread fingers from the shore.
The sea is filled with beauty; it is also filled with lore.
Waves of blue, waves of green cause white waters on a rocky shore.
While the warming sun’s silvery gleam, heals any wanton sore.
Fishing boats, sails afloat, challenge the sparkling foam.
While everyman with heart lured by the sea, tries desperately not to roam.
The sea is my mistress, the sea is my light.
On a cold day’s darkness, the moon must guide me by night.
A sea full of temptation, a sea full of woe.
I set my sails a flight, to meet my friend or foe.
Dark storm clouds gather overhead, waves pound at my wooden boat.
I feel the cold salty shower, fighting wind and tide to keep afloat.
Rigging is now tangled, mast breaks leaving gnarled stump.
Oh, I curse you west wind and my broken water pump.
Water bailed with bucket, from never ending stream.
Oh, I curse the rudder, as it breaks from helm fast and clean.
I curse you mean sea, now I am cast a drift.
On my knees, I pray to heaven, for the wind to dropp and shift.
Days with no food and water, lie ahead of me.
I drift with tide and current, towards the Sargasso Sea.
A sea of weed entangled, around the entrails of dead ships.
Ships of great endurance, asleep on a green desert sit.
Brigand with barnacles galore lay wind beaten on its side.
I wonder what gauntlet, you oh dead ship did ride.
With guns blazing, from aft to fore.
Below your decks, what treasures do you store?
Ships of all shapes and sizes, the Sargasso has you trapped.
The sea of endless weed, never seen, nor ever mapped.
Into your great maw, I drift, helpless without wind.
Is this where I meet my maker?
For all that, I have sinned.
This is no stockade of refuge, no place I want to be.
In a boat without a sail, trapped in the Sargasso Sea.
Oh, let me steal from your great ships.
Wood to repair my sail, then please release me, from this land of bleached bones and windy wail.
Sea of a million raptures, that contains this floating hell.
Please, oh, please release me, from a place to which I fell.
I plead to you ole west wind, blow your saintly scorn.
Free me from this entangled weed, guide me to safe waters warm
Sky of a thousand clouds, darken as the night.
The scorn of the west wind has set my sails a flight.
My boat begins to rock, the bow dips and hails.
The west wind has answered my pleas, blown wind into my sails.
Boat held fast, by weeds tight grip.
I curse you Sargasso Sea, release my now strong boat.
Salty shower pelts my face, as from the weed my boat breaks free, from the Sargasso’s grip and dead ships of the sea.
Trade winds and currents strong, lead me from this sea of dead ships, to a refuge from the storm.
Lead me to still waters grip, so I may chart a way, back to my homeland.
That I may sail your sea, safely for another day.
Lead me back to my loved one, who keeps the fire warm.
So she will not climb widow’s wharf, or reap the widow’s mourn.
Lead me with your warm wind, each step along the way.
Lead me to her arms beckoning and warm, from which I promise I will not stray.
As for you sea of dead ships, you sail with legend and lore.
No more shall I sail with you, or break waters at your shore.
Once you had me firm within your grip, but I broke free of you,
and your sea of dead ships.
Thanks to the west wind that blew.
4 July 1978
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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No Money
She'd gotten used to the idle life
Following the sun was her full-time occupation
A lesson to us all
Or at least for the education
Oh, but look at her now
Fox-trotting the globe
With her head in the clouds
I haven't got no money
To keep this affair afloat
And I don't think that it's funny
It looks like I've sunk my boat
But she'll keep me dangling on and on and on
Well, furs and pearls I'm trapped in your pocket
Where six-foot toys stumble upon it
Your high-class ways have seen better days
But to me you'll always be
Complicating, infatuating
I haven't got no money
To keep this affair afloat
And I don't think that it's funny
Looks like I've sunk my boat
I haven't got no money
To keep this affair afloat
And I don't think that it's funny
It looks like I've sunk myboat
Royal Britannia
The jet-set dreams on and on
Into another sun-drenched sin where
Kings and queens
And jesters preen
You know, you know
I haven't got no money
To keep this affair afloat
And I don't think that it's funny
It looks like I've sunk my boat
I haven't got no money
To keep this affair afloat
And I don't think that it's funny
It looks like I've sunk my boat
song performed by by Madness
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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His Boat
This boat you see, friends, will tell you
that she was the fastest of craft,
not to be challenged for speed
by any vessel afloat, whether
driven by sail or the labour of oars.
The threatening Adriatic coast won’t deny it,
nor the isles of the Cyclades,
nor noble Rhodes, nor fearful Bosphorus,
nor the grim bay of the Black Sea
where, before becoming a boat, she was
leafy wood: for on the heights of Cytorus
she often hissed to the whispering leaves.
The boat says these things were well known to you,
and are, Amastris and box-wood clad Cytorus:
she says from the very beginning she stood
on your slope, that she dipped her oars
in your water, and carried her owner from there
over so many headstrong breakers,
whether the wind cried from starboard
or larboard, or whether Jupiter struck at the sheets
on one side and the other, together:
and no prayers to the gods of the shore were offered
for her, when she came from a foreign sea
here, as far as this limpid lake.
But that’s past: now hidden away here
she ages quietly and offers herself to you,
Castor and his brother, heavenly Twins.
poem by Gaius Valerius Catullus
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A Single Black Rose
A single Black Rose to turn the tide
A single Black Rose to make one die
A single Black Rose to ensnare the soul
A single Black Rose to widen that hole
A single Black Rose to melt the heart
A single Black Rose to force a start
A single Black Rose to entwine the bodies
A single Black Rose to dictate the deaths of these
A single Black Rose to lie upon her breast
A single Black Rose to stop the tears from soaking his vest
A single Black Rose to mourn this memory
A single Black Rose to become a plot in this cemetery
A single Black Rose to take a life
A single Black Rose to end his strife.
(8/21/2007)
poem by Michael Koelliker
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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There was an Old Man in a boat,
Who said, 'I'm afloat! I'm afloat!'
When they said, 'No! you aint!'
He was ready to faint,
That unhappy Old Man in a boat.
by Edward Lear from A Book of Nonsense (1846)
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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With the Crickets Gone
Crickets make
The night sounds sweeter.
It's hard to replace
Their usefulness.
Just like moonbeams,
In eyes and dreams.
Without that magic...
Where would romance find meaning?
Where would romance go,
To await times to unfold?
And how...
Could we keep that rock to our boat?
With the crickets gone,
How could we stay afloat.
Crickets make
The night sounds sweeter.
It's hard to replace
Their usefulness.
Just like moonbeams,
In eyes and dreams.
Without that magic...
Where would romance find meaning?
Where would romance go,
To await times to unfold?
And how...
Could we keep that rock to our boat?
With the crickets gone,
How could we stay afloat.
With the crickets gone,
Could we keep that rock to our boat?
With the crickets gone,
How could we stay afloat.
With the crickets gone,
Could we keep that rock to our boat?
With the crickets gone,
How could we stay afloat.
With the crickets gone,
Would we then become remote.
With the crickets gone,
Could we keep that rock to our boat?
With the crickets gone,
How could we stay afloat.
With the crickets gone,
Could we keep that rock to our boat?
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Mercy
I got so much to say but I'm afraid it'll come out wrong, I'm not
akin to the Eighties thing where you look after number one.
But I won't rock the boat, 'cause I'm scared what might happen. I
won't rock the boat, 'cause I'm one of the millions, who never seem to
do anything. (He never seems to do anything.) I never seem to do
anything. (He never seems to do anything.)
And everytime I get the urge to strike out on my own, insecurity
wraps me up, it's cold outside the fold.
So I won't rock the boat, 'cause I'm scared what might happen. I
won't rock the boat, 'cause I'm the man who merely threatens, who's
always saying what he's gonna do. (He's always saying what he's gonna
do.) I'm always saying what I'm gonna do. (He's always saying what
he's gonna do.)
I'm running steady, oh so steady, so safe and sound I could drown.
I've had my fill of living in my cosy armchair land, but all my
schemes come to a humiliating end.
So I won't rock the boat, 'cause I'm scared what might happen. I
won't rock the boat, 'cause I'm one of the millions, who's always
saying what he's gonna do. (He's always saying what he's gonna do.)
I'm always saying what I'm gonna do. (He's always saying what he's
gonna do.)
No I won't rock no boats. (He's always saying what he's gonna do.)
Kiss goodbye to my hopes. (He's always saying what he's gonna do.) I
won't rock no boats. (He's always saying what he's gonna do.) Life
is easy when you're being kept afloat. I won't rock no boats
song performed by by Underworld
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Mr. Universe
I got so much to say but I'm afraid it'll come out wrong, I'm not
akin to the Eighties thing where you look after number one.
But I won't rock the boat, 'cause I'm scared what might happen. I
won't rock the boat, 'cause I'm one of the millions, who never seem to
do anything. (He never seems to do anything.) I never seem to do
anything. (He never seems to do anything.)
And everytime I get the urge to strike out on my own, insecurity
wraps me up, it's cold outside the fold.
So I won't rock the boat, 'cause I'm scared what might happen. I
won't rock the boat, 'cause I'm the man who merely threatens, who's
always saying what he's gonna do. (He's always saying what he's gonna
do.) I'm always saying what I'm gonna do. (He's always saying what
he's gonna do.)
I'm running steady, oh so steady, so safe and sound I could drown.
I've had my fill of living in my cosy armchair land, but all my
schemes come to a humiliating end.
So I won't rock the boat, 'cause I'm scared what might happen. I
won't rock the boat, 'cause I'm one of the millions, who's always
saying what he's gonna do. (He's always saying what he's gonna do.)
I'm always saying what I'm gonna do. (He's always saying what he's
gonna do.)
No I won't rock no boats. (He's always saying what he's gonna do.)
Kiss goodbye to my hopes. (He's always saying what he's gonna do.) I
won't rock no boats. (He's always saying what he's gonna do.) Life
is easy when you're being kept afloat. I won't rock no boats
song performed by by Underworld
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Stolen Child
(wb yeats)
Come away, human child
To the water
Come away, human child
To the water and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand
For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand
Where dips the rocky highland
Of sleuth wood in the lake
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There weve hid our faery vats
Full of berries
And of reddest stolen cherries
Come away, human child
To the water
Come away, human child
To the water and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand
For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand
Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light
Far off by furthest rosses
We foot it all the night
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles
While the world is full of troubles
And is anxious in its sleep
Come away, human child
To the water
Come away, human child
To the water and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand
For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand
Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above glen-car
In pools among the rushes
The scarce could bathe a star
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
We give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams
Away with us hes going
The solemn-eyed:
Hell hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside;
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast
Or see the brown mice bob
Around and around the oatmeal-chest
For he comes, the human child
To the water
He comes, the human child
To the water and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand
From a world more full of weeping than he can understand
Human child
Human child
With a faery, hand in hand
From a world more full of weeping than he can understand...
Than he can understand...
He can understand...
song performed by by Waterboys
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The tempest
I saw the Lord God fishing
while we were sailing
on a stormy sea
and gigantic waves were crashing
while He cast His lines in
landing here and there
and later landing almost everywhere.
The lines of God were blue-white
hitting the ocean and some the boat
and while the storm ripped, tossed us
to and fro
that ship almost came apart.
His lines thundered in sizzling the water
where they fell
running up through the pitch black clouds
and no gale force wind, no raging storm sea
could deny His will
while His lines
with thundering flame came in
and I looked up into that howling sky
with rain bashing against me,
wanting to see Him
and heard the sea scream
in its anger, saw the torrent wind
ripping the sails to shreds
and the storm died down instead
with a great rainbow
against the horizon up ahead
and His lines were all gone
and I didn’t see one more
and the boat set a new course
to reach the shore.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Two Are Together
Two are together, I tell you,
A slope of a vowel, are a corner;
Grass short as a garden,
Bracken
Uncoiling,
Foxgloves, water
Descending,
Quartz in a stone.
This corner:
Mountain-ash (ferns
Up in air).
Then over an edge
This single
Blue wedge of a mountain;
This comfort, you tell me,
Contentment,
Compassion.
This wild-mint-scented scene
And wild roses
And wrinkle of water descending
Tending to laughter;
Together, then
After.
poem by Geoffrey Grigson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Wild Eyed Southern Boys
Its a hot night at the juke joint
And the bands pumpin rhythm and blues
Gonna spill a little rock and roll blood tonight
Gonna make some front page news
And the ladies hate the violence
Still they never seem to look away
Cause they love those
Wild eyed southern boys
Wild eyed boys
Wild eyed southern boys
Its a southern point of honor
You got a get right in on the action
You can hear the outlaws holler
Fight for the lady in black
And she's just one in a million
But she's all I need tonight
Cause she loves those
Wild eyed southern boys
Wild eyed boys
Wild eyed southern boys
Wild eyed boys
Oohhh yeah
Wild eyed boys
A man of wealth and power
Is out on the dance hall floor
He got a champagne Eldorado parked outside the door
And he's looking for a honky tonk angel
But he don't stand a chance in hell
Cause he ain't no wild eyed southern boy
Wild eyed boy
Wild eyed southern boy
Wild eyed
Wild eyed southern boy
Wild eyed southern boys
Wild eyed boy
Wild eyed southern boy
Wild eyed boy
Wild eyed boy
Wild eyed southern boys
Wild eyed boys
song performed by by 38 Special
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Kessack Ferry-Boat Fatality
'Twas on Friday the 2nd of March, in the year of 1894,
That the Storm Fiend did loudly laugh and roar
Along the Black Isle and the Kessack Ferry shore,
Whereby six men were drowned, which their friends will deplore.
The accident is the most serious that has occurred for many years,
And their relatives no doubt will shed many tears,
Because the accident happened within 200 yards of the shore,
While Boreas he did loudly rail and roar.
The ferry-boat started from the north or Black Isle,
While the gusty gales were blowing all the while
From the south, and strong from the south-west,
And to get to land fclie crew tried their utmost best.
The crew, however, were very near the land,
When the gusts rose such as no man could withstand,
With such force that the ferry-boat flew away
From her course, down into the little bay,
Which opens into the Moray Firth and the river Ness,
And by this time the poor men were in great distress,
And they tried again and again to get back to the pier,
And to save themselves from being drowned they began to fear.
And at last the poor men began to despair,
And they decided to drop anchor where they were,
While the Storm Fiend did angry roar,
And the white-crested billows did lash the shore.
And the water poured in, but was baled out quickly,
And the men's clothes were wet, and they felt sickly,
Because they saw no help in the distance,
Until at last they blew the fog-horn for assistance.
And quickly in response to their cry of distress,
Four members of the coastguard, in coastguard dreys,
Whose station overlooked the scene, put off in a small boat,
And with a desperate struggle they managed to keep her afloat.
Then the coastguards and boat drifted rapidly away,
Until they found themselves in the little bay,
Whilst the big waves washed o'er them, again and again,
And they began to think their struggling was all in vain.
But they struggled on manfully until they came upon a smaller boat,
Which they thought would be more easily kept afloat,
And to which the hawser was soon transferred,
Then for a second time to save the ferrymen all was prepared.
Then the coastguards drifted down alongside the ferry-boat,
And with great difficulty they kept themselves afloat,
Because the big waves were like mountains high,
Yet the coastguards resolved to save the ferrymen or die.
Then at last the ferrymen got into the coastguard boat,
And they all toiled manfully to keep her afloat,
Until she was struck as she rose on the crest of the wave,
Then each one tried hard his life to save.
And the poor men's hearts with grief were rent,
For they were thrown into the merciless sea in a moment,
And out of the eight men two have been saved,
All owing to their swimming abilities, and how they behaved.
Oh! it must have been a fearful sight,
To see them striving hard with all their might
To save themselves from a watery grave,
While the Storm Fiend did laugh and angry did rave.
poem by William Topaz McGonagall
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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A Black Single Rose.
A single black rose.
A single black rose to carry the load,
A single black rose to turn the road,
A single black rose to touch the soul,
A single black rose to widen your hole,
A single black rose to melt your heart,
A single black rose to force a start,
A single black rose to make you cry,
A single black rose to make you dry,
A single black rose to help you climb,
A single black rose to make you lie,
A single black rose to take a life,
A single black rose to take away strife.
poem by Natasha Ligons
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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