Piraeus . . . Salamis . . . What sails are these, Glinting with golden dust of centuries And suns of glory long since set, that dock 'Mid alien steamers at our grimy wharves? Dispatches -- cable, radio, telegraph, And bulging mail bags -- these can wait. We know What news they bring. . . . Come, heralds, quit your galley. What of Piraeus? What of Salamis? "Thermopylae is lost -- Leonidas And all his men sleep with the host they slew. The flood of Asia through the river dam Roars down on Athens, cracks an empty shell. The city built of earth is gone, to rise Upon the wave, with freedom fugitive. For Athens rides the sea, her ramparts now The wooden walls the oracle foretold. "The Grecian ships are massed at Salamis; And at the entrance to their harbourage, Like cat at mouse hole, Xerxes' mighty fleet Crouches to spring. . . . Our captains argue down Flight-poised allies till flight is vain. . . . All day The bosom of our fair Greek plain, the sea, Heaves with the anguish of the fight. . . . All day Looks Xerxes from his throne, as at a play. He hath his fill of tribute out of Greece: Water and earth! -- Our blue AEgean drinks The boasts of Persia, and the Persian chains Rust in her ooze. . . . "Good news from Salamis! O ye who love brave deeds -- O ye who kneel At freedom's altar only -- Athens lives! And from her ashes presently shall rise. For to Piraeus now we point our prows. Good news, O sons of freedom -- freedom lives!" Piraeus . . . Salamis . . . Those shining sails Gray in the twilight now. . . . The anchor's up. Linger a little, while they thread their course Among our dingy craft, to sea again. Dreams dock but seldom in our ports of trade. Piraeus . . . Salamis . . . They are lost between . . . | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FRAGMENTARY BLUE by ROBERT FROST BRIGHTNESS AS A POIGNANT LIGHT by DAVID IGNATOW ARMOR by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE PASSING OF THE EX-SLAVE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO W.E.B. DUBOIS - SCHOLAR by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON NOBODY'S LOOKIN' BUT DE OWL AND DE MOON (A NEGRO SERENADE) by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON SONG FOR A VIOLA D'AMORE by AMY LOWELL SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: THE VILLAGE ATHEIST by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |