Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ETERNAL SHIPWRECK, by IWAN GOLL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ETERNAL SHIPWRECK, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, nights, carry us far, you purple ships
Last Line: Slipper-symphonies. Café au lait. Oh, man!
Alternate Author Name(s): Goll, Yvan


Oh, nights, carry us far, you purple ships
With velvet wings for sails,
Bear us across to the gentle gulf of joy.
We believe Sinbad gladly, that friend and king of dreams,
We would sob to his viols.

Ah, there remains a coast where we may never land:
Stony day and sun thick as mist.
There longing hangs dead upon the cross of the houses—
You nights, you curving sail-couches,
Remain on the kind sea of sleep!

The harbor lures, the morning-bell,
A bitter salt burns on our lips: the day!
Heavily we lift our weary lashes.
Odol beckons, blue on the dreary wash-stand.
Slipper-symphonies. Café au lait. Oh, man!





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