Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE ROCK OF CLOUD, by HERBERT TRENCH Poet's Biography First Line: We heard a chanting in the fog Last Line: But never through the cloud. Subject(s): Sea; Ocean | ||||||||
WE heard a chanting in the fog On the frore face of the sea By night, and lay upon our oars To sound that mystery. And men throng'd up into the bow And hail'd the curling rack, "What demon or what spirit thou?" And the lone voice came back, Came as of one so evil-starr'd That he hath done with grief, In monotone as keen and hard As the bell swung from a reef: "Man am I -- Would that I were none! Row hither! ye may hear Yet shall not save nor bring me home Seek ye ten thousand year!" "Keep a stout hope!" "I keep no hope." "Man alive . . ." "Spare your toil -- " "We are upon thee!" "Nay, no rope Over the gap shall coil." "Who art thou?" "I was a Pilot once On many a ship of mark: Went aboard, spoke to none, and steer'd; But on a night too dark "In the middle watch we struck -- we sank. I reach'd this rock of wings Whereby from every boulder's flank The brown sea-ribbon swings. "Here, while the sole eye of the Sun Did scorch my body bare, A great Sea-Spirit rose, and shone In the water thrill'd with hair. . . . "She lay back on the green abyss, Beautiful; her spread arms Soothed to a poise -- a sob -- of bliss Huge thunders and alarms. "Her breasts as pearl were dull and pure, Her body's chastened light Swam like a cloud; her eyes unsure From the great depths were bright. "There was no thing of bitterness In aught that she could say; She call'd my soul, as down a coast The Moon calls bay beyond bay And they rise -- back o' the uttermost -- Away, and yet away: -- "I CHOSE thee from the sinking crews, I bore thee up alive; Now durst thou follow me and choose Under the world to dive? "'Come! we will catch when stars are out, The black wave's spitting crest And still, when the Bull of Dawn shall spout Be washing on abreast! "'Or thee a flame under the seas Paven with suns I'll hide, Deathless and boundless and at ease In any shape to glide. "'All waters that on Earth have well'd At last to me repair, -- All mountains starr'd with cities melt Into my dreamy air! "'Set on thy peak under the brink I'll show thee storms above, The stuff of kingdoms: -- they shall sink While thou dost teach me love; On beaches white as the young Moons I'll sit, and fathom love!'" * * * * "And what saidst thou?" "From over sea I felt a sighing burn That made this jagg'd rock seem to me More delicate than fern; "And faint as moth-wings I could hear Tops of the pine-tree sway, And the last words spoken in mine ear Before the break of day. "And I cried out sore, sore at the heart For her that sleeps at home, 'Brightness, I will not know thine art, Nor to thy country come!' "Straightway she sank -- smiling so pale -- But from the seethe up-broke -- Never thrash'd off by gust or gale -- White, everlasting smoke. "By stealth it feels all over me With languor that appals; It laps my fierce heart endlessly In soft and rolling walls. "A mist no life may pass, save these Wave-wing'd, with shrieking voice; Stars I discern not, nor the seas --" "O, dost not rue thy choice?" . . . . . . "Rue it? Now get back to the Deep, For I doubt if men ye be. No; -- I must keep a steady helm By the star I cannot see." Passion o' man! we sprang to oars, And sought on, weeping loud, All night in ear-shot of the shores But never through the cloud. | 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 |
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