Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LIFE ON THE LAKES: OUTWARD BOUND, by ELIZABETH SEWELL HILL


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LIFE ON THE LAKES: OUTWARD BOUND, by                    
First Line: The waters lap by the pier's green side
Last Line: In ghostly sheath.
Subject(s): City & Town Life; Fields; Home; Travel; Pastures; Meadows; Leas; Journeys; Trips


The waters lap by the pier's green side
From the rippled bay;
Great hausers creak in the lifting tide,
Getting under weigh.
The shouts come quick and the last trucks slide
Down the slippery way,
Thro' the heaped-up gangway spreading wide.
In the twilight grey
The rudder swings as the lines creep home,
And the old boat turns,
Heading out for the mouth with its glimpse of foam
Where the great lamp burns.

The storm flag flies at the channel's end
In the leaden sky;
The storm light's creviced warning spends
As the colors die;
The lamp's red gleams at the pier's far end
On the ripples lie;
The spans leap far in their backward trend
To the white sand's cry.

"Coming!" "Coming!" "Coming!" The hoarse call wends
Where the hills fling high.
"Salute!" "We Salute!" "You!" The siren sends
So, going by.
And in or out, or force or fend,
The orders lie,
Or far or near, or risks attend,
Or signals fly.

"Coming!" "Coming!" "Coming!" Where the courses bend
Rounding handily,
Heading into the north at the outer bar,
Lying grim beneath,
Settling into the course with a muffled jar—
The bone in her teeth.

The dimming moon and the fading star
Touch the white foam-wreath.
The lamp swims fainter. The hills loam far
In ghostly sheath.





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