THE sea was sapphire coloured, and the sky Burned like a heated opal through the air, We hoisted sail; the wind was blowing fair For the blue lands that to the eastward lie. From the steep prow I marked with quickening eye Zakynthos, every olive grove and creek, Ithaca's cliff, Lycaon's snowy peak, And all the flower-strewn hills of Arcady. The flapping of the sail against the mast, The ripple of the water on the side, The ripple of girls' laughter at the stern, The only sounds: -- when 'gan the West to burn, And a red sun upon the seas to ride, I stood upon the soil of Greece at last! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON A LUTE FOUND IN A SARCOPHAGUS by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE QUATORZAINS: 2. THOUGHTS by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES TO DUST RETURNING by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH ON A YOUNG POETESS'S GRAVE by ROBERT WILLIAMS BUCHANAN A BIRD AT SUNSET by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON THE SHADOW LAND by PEARL LENORE POLLARD CURRAN |