Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


OCEAN by ROBERT SILLIMAN HILLYER

First Line: THE RIVERS OF THE YEARS FIND REST IN THEE
Last Line: THY CHILD ELUDING THEE IN RESURRECTION.
Subject(s): SEA; OCEAN;

The rivers of the years find rest in thee,
And thou hast drunk our ages one by one;
All loves and hates, all earthly things begun
Are ended so and merged eternally.
The past has yielded everything, and we
Who labor now shall yield what we have done;
Thou scatterest the ashes of the Sun,
But Him thou givest back at dawn, O Sea.

Long after men have perished from earth
Still will he sink at evening to thy breast
Where death itself is but his own reflection.
To whom thou slayest, thou shalt give rebirth;
Thy lover in the gardens of the west,
Thy child eluding thee in resurrection.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net