Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NEAR YARMOUTH; TO EDWARD J. O'BRIEN, by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NEAR YARMOUTH; TO EDWARD J. O'BRIEN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The river holds no more the fishing boats
Last Line: The river sleeps, the boats are gone again.
Subject(s): Boats; Fish & Fishing; Marine Animals; Sea; Anglers; Ocean


The river holds no more the fishing boats,
For long ago the last one rotted away:
And down its ever-meandering curves of blue,
No masts jut out, eager to fight the spray.

But on dim winter nights,
When two by two the lights
Burn out among the sleepy villages
Which line its banks;
The clouds roll over, heavy ranks, from seaward,
And storm the steep waves of the sky.

These are like scudding barks with hoisted sail,
These are blue fishing smacks, setting forth for the shoal of stars;
Lot Tubman or Amos Barker holds the wheel,
While through the sky before the wind they reel.
And the long lines of rain
Descend upon the earth like ghostly trawl-lines:
But ere the yawning chimneys blow smoke into the morning,
The river sleeps, the boats are gone again.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net