Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A QUEEN IN THE SEA, by PAUL FORT First Line: With our good boats brave the tempestuous flood Last Line: With our good boats brave the tempestuous sea. Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Sailing & Sailors; Sea; Ships & Shipping; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Seamen; Sails; Ocean | ||||||||
With our good boats brave the tempestuous flood. A queen of high descent once loved a sailor rude. To India he went with greed of gain imbued. With our good boats brave the tempestuous flood. With tall, black ships a King conquered the Queen's countree! Ah, bitter was the sting! She leaped into the sea. With our good boats brave the tempestuous flood. "Queen in the sea!" A whale in search of cod or mullet wagged a contented tail and stowed her in his gullet. With our good boats brave the tempestuous flood. In that black ventral part a sorry time she had, but still, with faithful heart, she loved her sailor lad. With our good boats brave the tempestuous flood. So that good whale, the most considerate of mammals, swam to the Indian coast, a land where there are camels. With our good boats brave the tempestuous flood. One of these beasts above, throned in a palanquin, she recognized her love, now monarch of Tonkin. With our good boats brave the tempestuous flood. "Sailor, console your queen. Come back my throne to share." "Not I! In my hareem are many maids more fair." With our good boats brave the tempestuous flood. "You smell of the sepulchre." "A whale devoured me. Sailor, 'tis not of the sepulchre I smell, but of the sea." With our good boats brave the tempestuous flood. "Each houri of my string of fine rice-powder smells, like the Queen to the King that they say in Paris dwells." With our good boats brave the tempestuous flood. Then weeping she returned into the waiting whale and for her native land sorrowfully set sail. With our good boats brave the tempestuous flood. With tall, black ships a King conquered the Queen's countree. Her pain has lost its sting and like a lamb is she. With our good boats brave the tempestuous sea. | 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 A PORTFOLIO OF SKETCHES: THE LITTLE ANNUITANT by PAUL FORT |
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