Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AT THE SEASIDE, by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK Poet's Biography First Line: O solitary shining sea Last Line: Becomes an endless psalm. Alternate Author Name(s): Mulock, Dinah Maria | ||||||||
O SOLITARY shining sea That ripples in the sun, O gray and melancholy sea, O'er which the shadows run; O many-voiced and angry sea, Breaking with moan and strain, -- I, like a humble, chastened child, Come back to thee again; And build child-castles and dig moats Upon the quiet sands, And twist the cliff-convolvulus Once more, round idle hands; And look across that ocean line, As o'er life's summer sea, Where many a hope went sailing once, Full set, with canvas free. Strange, strange to think how some of them Their silver sails have furled, And some have whitely glided down Into the under world; And some, dismasted, tossed and torn, Put back in port once more, Thankful to ride, with freight still safe, At anchor near the shore. Stranger it is to lie at ease As now, with thoughts that fly More light and wandering than sea-birds Between the waves and sky: To play child's play with shells and weeds, And view the ocean grand Sunk to one wave that may submerge A baby-house of sand; And not once look, or look by chance, With old dreams quite supprest, Across that mystic wild sea-world Of infinite unrest. O ever solitary sea, Of which we all have found Somewhat to dream or say, -- the type Of things without a bound -- Love, long as life, and strong as death; Faith, humble as sublime; Eternity, whose large depths hold The wrecks of this small Time; -- Unchanging, everlasting sea! To spirits soothed and calm Thy restless moan of other years Becomes an endless psalm. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOUGLAS, DOUGLAS, TENDER AND TRUE by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK HER LIKENESS by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK NOW AND AFTERWARDS by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK ONLY A WOMAN by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK PHILIP, MY KING by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK A 'MERCENARY' MARRIAGE by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK A CHILD'S SMILE by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK A CHRISTMAS CAROL by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK A DEAD BABY by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK A DEAD SEA-GULL; NEAR LIVERPOOL by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK |
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