Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONG OF THE SEA, by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONG OF THE SEA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The song of the sea was an ancient song
Last Line: Such is the song of the sea.
Subject(s): Earth; Life; Nature; Sea; Singing & Singers; World; Ocean; Songs


THE song of the sea was an ancient song
In the days when the earth was young;
The waves were gossiping loud and long
Ere mortals had found a tongue;
The heart of the waves with wrath was wrung
Or soothed to a siren strain,
As they tossed the primitive isles among
Or slept in the open main.
Such was the song and its changes free,
Such was the song of the sea.

The song of the sea took a human tone
In the days of the coming of man;
A mournfuller meaning swelled her moan,
And fiercer her riots ran;
Because that her stately voice began
To speak of our human woes;
With music mighty to grasp and span
Life's tale and its passion-throes.
Such was the song as it grew to be.
Such was the song of the sea.

The song of the sea was a hungry sound
As the human years unrolled;
For the notes were hoarse with the doomed and drowned,
Or choked with a shipwreck's gold:
Till it seemed no dirge above the mold
So sorry a story said
As the midnight cry of the waters old
Calling above their dead.
Such is the song and its threnody,
Such is the song of the sea.

The song of the sea is a wondrous lay,
For it mirrors human life;
It is grave and great as the judgment day,
It is torn with the thought of strife;
Yet under the stars it is smooth and rife
With love-lights everywhere,
When the sky has taken the deep to wife
And their wedding-day is fair --
Such is the ocean's mystery,
Such is the song of the sea.





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