Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MARINER, by RUTH ERICKSON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MARINER, by                    
First Line: There was something about the sea that drew
Last Line: For again he is sailing the uncharted seas.
Subject(s): Death; Sailing & Sailors; Sea; Dead, The; Seamen; Sails; Ocean


There was something about the Sea that drew --
(I've heard him tell, and so know it is true)
When waters were sobbing beneath the keel,
Deep in his sea-hungry soul he could feel
The lovely allure of the ocean's whim --
Its restless surge was a part of him.

Up and down on the great ocean's path,
Year after year through its smile and its wrath,
His face grew seamed by the ocean's blast,
And his hair as white as the sail-flung mast --
But within his eyes was a still white heat
To sail where the waters and skyline meet!

Waters that wail and mourn his return --
For the bells are tolling, and the tapers burn,
And they say he is dead! Dead! Not he --
He with the soul of the untamed sea --
He lies in a shroud, but his spirit's at ease,
For again he is sailing the uncharted seas.





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