Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE ARCTIC by JOHN BANISTER TABB

First Line: IS IT A SHROUD OR BRIDAL VEIL
Last Line: ABOVE A WARMER GRAVE?
Subject(s): ARCTIC;

Is it a shroud or bridal veil
That hides it from our sight,
The lonely sepulchre of day
Or banquet-hall of night?

Are those the lights of revelry
That glimmer o'er the deep
Or flashes of a funeral pyre
Above the corpse of sleep?

Beyond those peaks impregnable
Of everlasting snow
One star, a steadfast beacon, burns
To guard the coast below.

Whence come the ghostly galleons
The pirate sun to brave
And furl the shadowy flag of death
Above a warmer grave?



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