Once in a hundred years the Lemmings come Westward, in search of food, over the snow, Westward, until the salt sea drowns them dumb, Westward, till all are drowned, those Lemmings go. Once, it is thought, there was a westward land (Now drowned) where there was food for those starved things, And memory of the place has burnt its brand In the little brains of all the Lemming Kings. Perhaps, long since, there was a land beyond Westward from death, some city, some calm place, Where one could taste God's quiet and be fond With the little beauty of a human face; But now the land is drowned, yet still we press Westward, in search, to death, to nothingness. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE COAT OF FIRE by EDITH SITWELL TO COLE, THE PAINTER, DEPARTING FOR EUROPE by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT AVE ATQUE VALE; IN MEMORY OF CHARLES BAUDELAIRE by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE STEEL MILL by LOUIS UNTERMEYER ELLEN BRINE OV ALLENBURN by WILLIAM BARNES SONNET: 16 by RICHARD BARNFIELD |