Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE OLD PIER-POST, by JOHN COWPER POWYS Poet's Biography First Line: I am the sea-ward-looking one Last Line: Christ must be coming soon! Subject(s): Death; Fish & Fishing; Jesus Christ; Moon; Sea; Soul; Wharves; Dead, The; Ocean; Piers | ||||||||
I am the sea-ward-looking one, Covered with weed and slime -- "Fresh fish for sale!" -- of a row of posts, That rotted by centuries nod like ghosts To the ebb and flow of time. Sea-tangle and sea-scum Will the Christ never come? Two lovers that met at this ocean-mart, With kissings and clingings pale Breaking the shell of a human heart And tearing its bleeding core apart, -- -- "Fresh fish, fresh fish for sale!" -- Left a tress of shining hair on me; And two sea-gulls that once were mates But were wrenched away by the blinding spray And the unrelenting fates, Left a feather on me, a shining feather, With sea-scum covered and scales Of the mackerel bright they had caught together, -- "Fresh fish for sale!" -- in the wild storm-weather And the fury of the gales. And the terrible ultimate thought of one Who had scooped at the shingle of things Till he'd taken the light from the kindly sun -- -- "Fresh fish for sale!" -- and to death had done The light that the sweet moon brings, Graved itself on the grey sea-mark Wherewith with eyeless stare I frown at the twilight and face the dark -- -- "Fresh fish for sale!" -- and with forehead stark Confront a world's despair. A shining tress, a feather, a thought -- With these I create a soul, A soul that is not to be sold or bought; Yes; I who am nought and less than nought -- -- "Fresh fish for sale!" -- have something caught From the waters as they roll! Yes; I, the sea-ward-looking one, Covered with weed and slime, Have gathered a soul to rest upon As I rock to the rhythm of time. Bright hair, bright feather, brain-disease Blotting the sun and moon -- If an old sea-pier steals a soul from these, Christ must be coming soon! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOWN AT THE DOCKS by KENNETH KOCH STREETS OF PEARL AND GOLD by CAROLYN KIZER FOR THE CENTENNIAL DINNER by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES CEREMONY ON PIER 40 by DAVID WAGONER THE HORIZON by JOHN COWPER POWYS BRIGHTON PIER by CLEMENT WILLIAM SCOTT JOHN JONES: 5. OFF THE PIER by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE |
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