Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THALASSA, by LOUISE SEYMOUR JONES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THALASSA, by                    
First Line: In a faraway mist
Last Line: Endlessly long.
Subject(s): Sea; Ocean


In a faraway mist
Of the world's first dawn
The sea sang its name
In a sibilant song
To the silver sands
And the rainbow rifts
As it flung pearl bubbles
On deep green drifts
Of seething waters
And sucking spume,
As it murmured beneath
The ocean's boom;
In roaring waves
I can chant without fear
My syllabic sign,
For no ear may hear
The voice of the sea
In the sea's own song --
"Thalassa...Thalassa..."
Endlessly long.

But a young Greek god,
As he passed one day,
Heard the sea tell its name
In a rondelay
Of lashing surf and
Lilting grace,
And he wrote it down
On the sea's wet face.
In a Triton's conch,
He carried home
The measured refrain
He had caught from the foam,
While its musical accents
Forever beat
In the Attic rhythm
Of epic feet
To be heard in the tides,
Till Earth's tale is told
Through summer's heat
In winter's cold,
The name of the sea
Is the sea's own song --
"Thalassa...Thalassa..."
Endlessly long.





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