Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OCEAN VOICES, by MIRIAM DEL BANCO


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OCEAN VOICES, by                    
First Line: The sea-birds sing on the mossy crag
Last Line: Are the waters of shim'ring blue.
Subject(s): Absence; Sailing & Sailors; Sea; Separation; Isolation; Seamen; Sails; Ocean


The sea-birds sing on the mossy crag,
And the waters rush and lave;
The sands gleam white in the pale moonlight
Down by the sad sea-wave.

I sit and dream of the days gone by
As the sails glide o'er the sea;
I wait and I watch, but one white-winged sail
Will never come back to me.

The waves come rushing from far-off lands.
The breezes come rushing too;
They carry the spices upon their wings.
The skies in their waters blue.

They bring with them bits of those far-off lands,
Tinted shells with the ocean's moan;
They bring with them branches of coral reef
From the depths of a mermaid's home.

And bark from the trunk of some southern plant,
And ferns from a tropic grove,
And scented grasses and blossoms and fronds
From the forests of nutmeg and clove.

The wild winds murmur; the pink-lipped shells
Speak low of the lands and sea;
But their voices grow sad when they speak of one
Who never came back to me.

So I sit and wonder how far away
Is the land where the wild fern grew;
I sit and wonder how deep and dark
Are the waters of shim'ring blue.





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