Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SHIPS ON THE SEA, by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SHIPS ON THE SEA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Far down the dim horizon of my soul
Last Line: And follow still their vanishing trestle-trees.
Subject(s): Ships & Shipping


FAR down the dim horizon of my soul
White are the sails of friends beloved and lost;
Great ships that in mid-sea my pinnace crost,
That hailed it cheerly o'er the long waves' roll.

All, all have reached their harbour and their goal;
I still ride out the storm-wind and the frost;
By futile hopes and wavering passions tost,
I miss their broader sway and strong control.

But not in vain beneath their lofty shade
I danced awhile, frail plaything of the seas;
Unfit to brave the ampler main with these;
Yet, by the instinct which their souls obeyed,
Less steadfast, o'er the trackless wave I strayed,
And follow still their vanishing trestle-trees.





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