As borne along with favouring gale And streamers waving bright, How gladly sweeps the glancing sail O'er yonder sea of light! With painted sides the vessel glides, In seeming revelry; And still we hear the sailor's cheer Around the capstan tree. Is sorrow there where all is fair, Where all is outward glee? Go, fool, to yonder mariner, And he shall lesson thee! Upon that deck walks tyrant sway Wild as his conquer'd wave, And murmuring hate that must obey; The captain and his slave. And pinching care is lurking there, And dark ambition's swell, And some that part with bursting heart From objects loved too well; And many a grief with gazing fed On yonder distant shore, And many a tear in secret shed For friends beheld no more; Yet sails the ship with streamers drest And shouts of seeming glee: Oh God! how loves the mortal breast To hide its misery! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE VIRTUOSO; IN IMITATION OF SPENCER'S STYLE AND STANZA by MARK AKENSIDE BLACK SAMSON OF BRANDYWINE by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE MEMORY OF MARTHA by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE SPIDER AND THE FLY by MARY HOWITT MEMORIAL TO D.C.: 5. ELEGY by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY |