Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PASSING MOON, by JOHN LAWSON STODDARD Poet's Biography First Line: In my loggia bright I watch to-night Last Line: Yet sail another sea. Subject(s): Life; Moon; Mountains; Sea; Soul; Hills; Downs (great Britain); Ocean | ||||||||
In my loggia bright I watch to-night The full moon sailing by; From a crystal creek in a glaciered peak It slipped to the open sky, And now rides free in a clear, blue sea, With not an island nigh. Through pearly haze its light displays Each buttressed mountain side, And softly shines through stately pines Where feudal castles hide, And every height grows dazzling white In the foam of a silver tide. From the eastern side of the valley wide To its snow-capped western rim It will hold its way, till the dawning day Shall have made its disk grow dim; Then, leaving the blue, will drop from view Behind the mountain's brim. Whence did it climb on its path sublime, Ere it left that icy height? And where will it go, when yonder snow Is reached in the morning light? Will its face elsewhere be just as fair, When here it is lost to sight? Why should I ask? 'Tis a fruitless task; Enough that its splendor falls On me to-night in my loggia bright, Till the scene my soul enthralls; 'Tis a long time yet, ere the moon will set Behind those glittering walls. And even when it sinks again Below that stainless crest, It will seem at last to have safely passed To a haven of peace and rest, Like a happy soul that hath reached its goal In the kingdom of the blest. I also know not where I go, Nor whence I came, or why, Nor can I guess what happiness Or strange, new world may lie Beyond the vale through which I sail, Beneath another sky; But as the moon, which all too soon Sinks down the west for me, To other eyes appears to rise And glide on fair and free, So the frail boat in which I float, Though tempest-worn it be, May cross life's brink, and seem to sink, Yet sail another sea. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HALL OF OCEAN LIFE by JOHN HOLLANDER JULY FOURTH BY THE OCEAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS BOATS IN A FOG by ROBINSON JEFFERS CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE FIGUREHEAD by LEONIE ADAMS A MAY MONODY by JOHN LAWSON STODDARD |
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