A SEA of splendor in the West, Purple, and pearl, and gold, With milk-white ships of cloud, whose sails Slowly the winds unfold. Brown cirrus-bars, like ribbed beach sand, Cross the blue upper dome; And nearer flecks of feathery white Blow over them like foam. But when that transient glory dies Into the twilight gray, And leaves me on the beach alone Beside the glimmering bay; And when I know that, late or soon, Love's glory finds a grave, And hearts that danced like dancing foam Break like the breaking wave; A little dreary, homeless thought Creeps sadly over me, Like the shadow of a lonely cloud Moving along the sea. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO BEACHEY, 1912 by CARL SANDBURG THE CHINESE LAUNDRYMAN by KAREN SWENSON THE GARDEN AGAIN by KAREN SWENSON THE HUMAN ABSTRACT, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE IN ANSWER TO MR. POPE by ANNE FINCH A SOLILOQUY; OCCASIONED BY THE CHIRPING OF A GRASSHOPPER by WALTER HARTE A CHRISTMAS CAROL, SUNG TO THE KING IN THE PRESENCE AT WHITEHALL by ROBERT HERRICK THE PLOUGHMAN by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES THE HIGH TIDE AT [OR, ON THE COAST OF] LINCOLNSHIRE by JEAN INGELOW |