Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SEA-GULL, by SILAS WEIR MITCHELL Poet's Biography First Line: The woods are full of merry minstrelsy Last Line: Love's endless echoes keep. Subject(s): Sea; Sea Gulls; Ocean | ||||||||
I THE woods are full of merry minstrelsy; Glad are the hedges with the notes of spring; But o'er the sad and uncompanioned sea No love-born voices ring. II Gray mariner of every ocean clime, If I could wander on as sure a wing, Or beat with yellow web thy pathless sea, I too might cease to sing. III Would I could share thy silver-flashing swoop, Thy steady poise above the bounding deep, Or buoyant float with thine instinctive trust, Rocked in a dreamless sleep. IV Thine is the heritage of simple things, The untasked liberty of sea and air, Some tender yearning for the peopled nest, Thy only freight of care. V Thou hast no forecast of the morrow's need, No bitter memory of yesterdays; Nor stirs thy thought that airy sea o'erhead, Nor ocean's soundless ways. VI Thou silent raider of the abounding sea, Intent and resolute, ah, who may guess What primal notes of gladness thou hast lost In this vast loneliness! VII Where bides thy mate? On some lorn ocean rock Seaward she watches. Hark! the one shrill cry, Strident and harsh, across the wave shall be Her welcomethy reply. VIII When first thy sires, with joy-discovered flight, High on exultant pinions sped afar, Had they no cry of gladness or of love, No bugle note of war? IX What gallant song their happy treasury held, Such as the pleasant woodland folk employ, The lone sea thunder quelled. Thou hast one note For love, for hate, for joy. X Yet who that hears this stormy ocean voice Would not, like them, at last be hushed and stilled, Were all his days through endless ages past With this stern music filled? XI What matters it? Ah! not alone are loved Leaf-cloistered poets who can love in song. Home to the wild-eyed! Home! She will not miss The music lost so long. XII Home! for the night wind signals, "Get thee home"; Home, hardy admiral of the rolling deep; Home from the foray! Home! That silenced song Love's endless echoes keep. | 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 A DECANTER OF MADEIRA, AGED 86, TO GEORGE BANCROFT, AGED 86 by SILAS WEIR MITCHELL HOW THE CUMBERLAND WENT DOWN [MARCH 8, 1862] by SILAS WEIR MITCHELL |
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