Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WRECK by JOHN RUSKIN

First Line: ITS MASTS OF MIGHT, ITS SAILS SO FREE
Last Line: ON A LOW LEE SHORE.
Subject(s): DISASTERS; SHIPWRECKS;
ITS masts of might, its sails so free,
Had borne the scatheless keel
Through many a day of darken'd sea,
And many a storm of steel;
When all the winds were calm, it met
(With home-returning prore)
With the lull
Of the waves
On a low lee shore.

The crest of the conqueror
On many a brow was bright;
The dew of many an exile's eye
Had dimm'd the dancing sight;
And for love and for victory
One welcome was in store,
In the lull
Of the waves
On a low lee shore.

The voices of the night are mute
Beneath the moon's eclipse;
The silence of the fitful flute
Is on the dying lips.
The silence of my lonely heart
Is kept forevermore
In the lull
Of the waves
On a low lee shore.



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