Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE WEST, by ALPHONSE MARIE LOUIS DE PRAT LAMARTINE Poet's Biography First Line: The sea grew silent like a seething bowl Last Line: Vast sea of being that all life doth drink! Subject(s): Nature; West (u.s.); Southwest; Pacific States | ||||||||
THE sea grew silent like a seething bowl That falls as the flame dwindles; backward led Her waves still fuming in their wrath did roll As seeking sleep in her unfathomed bed; And the spent sun-star in his cloudy race Stayed on the waves a rayless orb that sank, Then plunged one half of his ensanguined face, A flaming ship that the horizon drank; Half heaven grew wan, and swooned away the wind On the limp canvas, still and mute; the host Of shadows fell, and under their gray blind Both sky and water were together lost; And in my soul that waned as the day slept The sounds of earthly commerce no more stirred; And something in me as in Nature wept In grief and hope and gratitude unheard. And on the west a sudden door flung wide Poured floods of light that surged upon the gaze; The empurpled sky was like a tent to hide A hearthstone buring with unmeasured rays; Clouds, winds, and waters to the blazing arc Seemed all to haste as though a final doom Should fall on all things with the falling dark, And Nature perish in a world of gloom. Thereto the dust of evening was fanned, Thereto the white spray of the waters set; And long and sad, unconsciously I scanned The light they followed, with wide eyelids wet. Till all was hidden; like an empty cup My soul was even as the horizon hid; But lo! in me a sudden thought rose up As on the desert a lone pyramid: O light! where goest thou? O flameless sphere! O clouds, winds, waters, whither do you race? Dust, foam, and night; you eyes; thou soul speak clear! Where is the goal to which you speed apace? To Thee, Great All, of whom the sun's a ray, In whom Night, Day, and the deep Spirit sink, To whose divine impulsion all things sway, Vast sea of Being that all life doth drink! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WESTERN WAGONS by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET DRIVING WEST IN 1970 by ROBERT BLY IN THE HELLGATE WIND by MADELINE DEFREES A PERIOD PORTRAIT OF SYMPATHY by EDWARD DORN ASSORTED COMPLIMENTS by EDWARD DORN AT THE COWBOY PANEL by EDWARD DORN MEMORY AND HOPE by ALPHONSE MARIE LOUIS DE PRAT LAMARTINE THE BUTTERFLY by ALPHONSE MARIE LOUIS DE PRAT LAMARTINE THE FOUNTAIN IN THE FOREST by ALPHONSE MARIE LOUIS DE PRAT LAMARTINE |
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