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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FIRES OF DRIFTWOOD, by ISABEL ECCLESTONE MACKAY Poet's Biography First Line: On what long tides Last Line: Ashes blown along the shore! Subject(s): Driftwood; Fire; Sea Voyages; Tides | |||
ON what long tides Do you drift to my fire, You waifs of strange waters? From what far seas, What murmurous sands, What desolate beaches— Flotsam of those glories that were ships! I gather you, Bitter with salt, Sun-bleached, rock-scarred, moon-harried, Fuel for my fire. You are Pride's end. Through all to-morrows you are yesterday. You are waste, You are ruin, For where is that which once you were? I gather you. See! I set free the fire within you— You awake in thin flame! Tremulous, mistlike, your soul aspires, Blue, beautiful, Up and up to the clouds which are its kindred! What is left is nothing— Ashes blown along the shore! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NORTHWIND ESCARPMENT by NORMAN DUBIE TIDE TURNING by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS LOW TIDE ON GRAND-PRE by BLISS CARMAN THE HIGH TIDE AT [OR, ON THE COAST OF] LINCOLNSHIRE by JEAN INGELOW ULTIMA THULE: THE TIDE RISES by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE BOAST OF THE TIDES by WILLIAM ROSE BENET THE TIDES by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT A CHRISTMAS CHILD by ISABEL ECCLESTONE MACKAY |
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