Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HARRY HAWKER, by FRANCIS HACKETT First Line: So endlessly the gray-lipped sea Last Line: And followed up the sky. Variant Title(s): The Dead Aviator Subject(s): Sea; Ocean | ||||||||
So endlessly the gray-lipped sea Kept me within his eye, And lean he licked his hollow flanks And followed up the sky. I was the lark whose song was heard When I was lost to sight, I was the golden arrow loosed To pierce the heart of night. I fled the little earth, I climbed Above the rising sun, I met the morning in a blaze Before my hour was gone. I ran beyond the rim of space Its reins I flung aside, Laughter was mine and mine was youth And all my own was pride. So endlessly the gray-lipped sea Kept me within his eye And lean he licked his hollow flanks And followed up the sky. From end to end I knew the way I had no doubt nor fear; The minutes were a forfeit paid To fetch the landfall near. But all at once my heart I held, My carol frozen died, A white cloud laid her cheek to mine And wove me to her side. Her icy fingers clasped my flesh, Her hair drooped in my face, And up we fell and down we rose And twisted into space. So endlessly the gray-lipped sea Kept me within his eye And lean he licked his hollow flanks And followed up the sky. Laughter was mine and mine was youth, I pressed the edge of life, I kissed the sun and faced the wind, I found immortal strife. Out of myself I spent myself, I lost the mortal share, My grave is in the ashen plain, My spirit in the air. Goodbye, sweet pride of man that flew, Sweet pain of man that bled, I was the lark that spilled his heart, The golden arrow sped. So endlessly the gray-lipped sea Kept me within his eye And lean he licked his hollow flanks And followed up the sky. | 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 THE BLACK COTTAGE by ROBERT FROST MACFLECKNOE; OR, A SATIRE UPON THE TRUE-BLUE-PROTESTANT POET by JOHN DRYDEN |
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