All ye who have gained the haven of safe days, And rest at ease, your wanderings being done, Except the last, inevitable one, Be well content, I say, and hear men's praise: Yet in the quiet of your sheltered bays,-- Bland waters shining in an equal sun,-- Forget not that the awful storm-tides run In far, unsheltered, and tempestuous ways: Remember near what rocks, and through what shoals. Worn, desperate mariners strain with all their might: They may not come to your sweet restful goals, Your waters placid in the level light:-- Their graves wait in that sea no moon controls, That is in dreadful fellowship with Night. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WASHERS OF THE SHROUD; OCTOBER, 1861 by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL IRELAND (1847) by DENIS FLORENCE MCCARTHY VERSES FOR CHILDREN: CHRISTMAS TREE by ZEDA K. AILES THE POOR FARMER'S OFFERING by APOLLONIDES AUSTERITY OF POETRY by MATTHEW ARNOLD |