Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON THE SEA, by BAYARD TAYLOR



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON THE SEA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The splendor [or, pathway] of the sinking moon
Last Line: But the love in thee and me!
Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard
Subject(s): Sea; Ocean


THE splendor of the sinking moon
Deserts the silent bay;
The mountain-isles loom large and faints
Folded in shadows gray,
And the lights of land are setting stars
That soon will pass away.

O boatman, cease thy mellow song!
O minstrel, drop thy lyre!
Let us hear the voice of the midnight sea,
Let us speak as the waves inspire,
While the plashy dip of the languid oar
Is a furrow of silver fire.

Day cannot make thee half so fair,
Nor the stars of eve so dear:
The arms that clasp and the breast that keeps,
They tell me thou art near,
And the perfect beauty of thy face
In thy murmured words I hear.

The lights of land have dropped below
The vast and glimmering sea;
The world we leave is a tale that is told, --
A fable, that cannot be.
There is no life in the sphery dark
But the love in thee and me!





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