Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A DREAM OF DEATH, by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK Poet's Biography First Line: Where shall we sail to-day? Thus said, methought Last Line: And the great sun arose upon the world. Alternate Author Name(s): Mulock, Dinah Maria Subject(s): Death; Dead, The | ||||||||
WHERE shall we sail to-day?" -- Thus said, methought, A voice that only could be heard in dreams: And on we glided without mast or oar, A wondrous boat upon a wondrous sea. Sudden, the shore curved inward to a bay, Broad, calm, with gorgeous sea-weeds waving slow Beneath the water, like rich thoughts that stir In the mysterious deep of poets' hearts. So still, so fair, so rosy in the dawn Lay that bright bay: yet something seemed to breath, Or in the air, or from the whispering waves, Or from that voice, as near as one's own soul, "There was a wreck last night." A wreck? then where The ship, the crew? -- The all-entombing sea On which is writ nor name nor chronicle Laid itself o'er them with smooth crystal smile. "Yet was the wreck last night.". And gazing down Deep down below the surface, we were ware Of ghastly faces with their open eyes Uplooking to the dawn they could not see. One moved with moving sea-weeds: one lay prone, The tinted fishes gliding o'er his breast; One, caught by floating hair, rocked quietly Upon his reedy cradle, like a child. "The wreck has been" -- said the melodious voice, "Yet all is peace. The dead, that, while we slept, Struggled for life, now sleep and fear no storms: O'er them let us not weep when heaven smiles." So we sailed on above the diamond sands, Bright sea-flowers, and white faces stony calm, Till the waves bore us to the open main, And the great sun arose upon the world. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND BY THE ALMA RIVER by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK DOUGLAS, DOUGLAS, TENDER AND TRUE by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK |
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