How like a diver, headlong to the sea You plunged to death and with what powerful stroke Swam underneath before the surface broke To your remote return -- but not to me. Too far that rising was from certainty For even owl-eyed anguish to evoke An apparition bodiless as smoke Of you or of your shore of destiny. But once, in dream, from dark wave to white sand, A little breathless but with no dismay You leaped and brushed the drops of ebon spray From your bright body with a careless hand. Then turned as one familiar with the way And vanished, followed by a laughing band. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A DIRGE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY A WAYFARING SONG by HENRY VAN DYKE TO S.M., A YOUNG AFRICAN PAINTER, ON SEEING HIS WORKS by PHILLIS WHEATLEY THE SHIP STARTING by WALT WHITMAN LEXINGTON; 1775 by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER GRIEVE NOT, LADIES by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH |