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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HARVEST, by DANA BURNET Poet's Biography First Line: There was a schooner came ashore this fall Last Line: That one might bring his soul to paradise. Subject(s): Death; Harvest; Sea; Dead, The; Ocean | |||
There was a schooner came ashore this fall; A graceful thing flung on the bar and slain, With draggled gear, her stays about her trucks Like blown hair, . . and her beauty all in vain. She floundered through the spray with crumpled wings, A gray bird smothered in a leaping doom. We huddled there at dawn to see her die, A circle of white faces in the gloom. There was a cold light reaping in the east, A slow scythe cutting at the field of stars, And wind to beat a strong man down. We stood Watching five dots that specked her tossing spars. Five human souls. . . . We saw the sea reach up And pluck at them with great white-fingered hands -- Three times the life-boat thrust against the surf; The sea laughed loud . . . and broke it on the sands. So there was nothing more to do. The end Came as the sun burst through its iron clouds. The racked ship staggered, reeled, and disappeared -- The flung spume served the dead men as their shrouds. And then, clear-voiced, the village church-bell sang Above the wind and sea. . . . We had forgot What day it was. Now suddenly we turned Together toward the house where death is not. No word was spoken, yet we all went in To the still aisles and knelt upon the floor. A man was there, a drunkard and a thief, One who had never been in church before. He kneeled beside us, twisting his red hands, A startled glory in his sodden eyes. . . . I thought of five men silent in the sea That one might bring his soul to paradise. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HALL OF OCEAN LIFE by JOHN HOLLANDER JULY FOURTH BY THE OCEAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS BOATS IN A FOG by ROBINSON JEFFERS CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE FIGUREHEAD by LEONIE ADAMS |
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