Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE BLACK RIDERS: 38 by STEPHEN CRANE

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE OCEAN SAID TO ME ONCE
Last Line: "WITH A SURPLUS OF TOYS."
Subject(s): SEA; OCEAN;

The ocean said to me once,
"Look!
"Yonder on the shore
"Is a woman, weeping.
"I have watched her.
"Go you and tell her this --
"Her lover I have laid
"In cool green hall.
"There is wealth of golden sand
"And pillars, coral-red;
"Two white fish stand guard at his bier.

"Tell her this
"And more --
"That the king of the seas
"Weeps too, old, helpless man.
"The bustling fates
"Heap his hands with corpses
"Until he stands like a child
"With a surplus of toys."




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