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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LEAVING THE HARBOR by LOUIS UNTERMEYER

Poet Analysis

First Line: AT LAST THE GREAT, RED SUN SANK LOW
Last Line: LAY ON THE SHORE OF HEAVEN.
Subject(s): HARBORS; SEA; SHIPS & SHIPPING; STORMS; WIND; OCEAN;

AT last the great, red sun sank low,
An evil, blood-shot eye,
And cooling airs sprang up to blow
The sea that challenged, glow for glow,
The angry face of the sky.

Still burned the streets we had left behind,
Where, tortured and broken down,
The millions scarcely hoped to find
A moment's escape from the maddening grind
In the terrible furnace of town.

And, blotting out cities, the twilight fell
With a single star at seven...
The sea grew wider beneath the spell
And the moon, like a broken silver shell,
Lay on the shore of heaven.



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