The grove's endearments are not thine, Heart of the moaning sea; The measures of the palm and pine They murmur not for thee. No land bird risks despair and loss Among thy channels dim; The sea-gull only dares to toss On thy upheaving rim. Thy far beginning hath no date; Thy years no lines confess; No shadow marks thy dial-plate Sea-smoothed and fingerless. Like some uncharted asteroid, Or derelict of space, Thou art without a form and void And chaos is thy face. Thy tides forever fall and swell; Thy depths forever sleep; Thy noises to thy silence yell— Deep calling unto deep. The argosies of Fancy's dream That vanished in the west; The argonauts thy cheating stream Lured to her siren breast— The sanguine story of their woe In mortal anguish traced Oblivion's finger long ago Insensibly effaced. The pirate craft and privateer In slaughter's net entoiled; The merchantmen they grappled here And ruthlessly despoiled; The battleship that gained at last A requiem's renown; That nailed her country's colors fast And thundering went down:— All now "have suffered a sea change" And in thy silence lie, With the creations old and strange That never breathe nor die. The tumbled hulks that chaos mock No diver will reveal; The treasure, guarded by no lock, No cunning thief will steal. Around, the caverns dark and deep Where phantom seamen roam; Above, the wastes where tempests reap The harvests of the foam. Earth has no mystery like thine; No line can fathom thee; What art thou? Demon or divine? Heart of the moaning sea! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE, MY LITTLE ONE' by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO RIDGELY TORRENCE - PLAYWRIGHT by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON AT THE MERMAID TAVERN (APRIL 10, 1613) by EDGAR LEE MASTERS HATCHING; FOR DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI by KAREN SWENSON |