A LINE of light! it is the inland Sea, The least in compass and the first in fame; The gleaming of its waves recalls to me Full many an ancient name. As through my dreamland float the days of old, The forms and features of their heroes shine: I see Phoenician sailors bearing gold From the Tartessian mine. Seeking new worlds, storm-toss'd Ulysses ploughs Remoter surges of the winding main; And Grecian captains come to pay their vows, Or gather up the slain, I see the temples of the "Violet Crown" Burn upward in the hour of glorious flight: And mariners of uneclips'd renown, Who won the great sea-fight. I hear the dashing of a thousand oars, The angry waters take a deeper dye; A thousand echoes vibrate from the shores With Athens' battle-cry. Again the Carthaginian rovers sweep, With sword and commerce, on from shore to shore; In visionary storms the breakers leap Round Syrtes, as of yore. Victory, sitting on the Seven Hills, Had gain'd the world when she had master'd thee: Thy bosom with the Roman war-note thrills, Wave of the inland sea. Then, singing as they sail in shining ships, I see the monarch minstrels of Romance, And hear their praises murmur'd through the lips Of the fair dames of France. Across the deep another music swells, On Adrian bays a later splendour smiles; Power hails the marble city where she dwells Queen of a hundred isles. Westward the galleys of the Crescent roam, And meet the Pisan challenge in the breeze, Till the long Dorian palace lords the foam With stalwart Genovese. But the light fades, the vision wears away; I see the mist above the dreary wave. Blow winds of Freedom, give another day Of glory to the brave! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SEA UNICORNS AND LAND UNICORNS by MARIANNE MOORE THE RUBAIYAT, 1879 EDITION: 17 by OMAR KHAYYAM A CHILD'S GRAVE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH CHORUS OF THE CLOUD-MAIDEN: ANTISTROPHE, FR. THE CLOUDS by ARISTOPHANES |