I loved a ship from early boyhood days; It seemed to me a thing that lived and felt, To pet and coax, that knew the captain's voice. I heard the captain shouting to his men, And, as that voice which calleth home the cows, Will make the far-off sheep look up and bleat, So in my heart that captain's voice found ears, Meant for his men. Oh, what a joy was mine To see in dock the little boat that sailed Across the deep Atlantic with one man! I saw the two old warships made of oak, That in days gone had spake out fierce and loud With iron tongues in bodies of hard wood. I saw the steamship that could go its way Without consulting any wind or tide; That ship of steam, and its propeller with Four mighty arms of iron that could churn The sea for miles when it lay calm and blue. I watched the sailors, every move they made; Those sailors true, whose eyes would grow more bright, Like glow-worms, when they saw a coming storm. This world on which we live is but a ship Without a port on an eternal cruise; Oft taking fire, it burns its living crew, Then sailing into a cold void, its hull, Encased in ice, takes a warm current back, And a new crew is born for aeons more. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE EVENING STAR by THOMAS CAMPBELL INVOCATION [TO LOVE] by WILLIAM DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 27 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN THE BARREL-ORGAN by ALFRED NOYES THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 82. HOARDED JOY by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI STILL FALLS THE RAIN; THE RAIDS, 1940. NIGHT AND DAWN by EDITH SITWELL |