Into the violet vastness of shoreless and moaning twilight The infinite hulk of the ship of my city pushes her course, Paying out with the rush of her spindle a log unreturning, Crying of births and hushes of deaths recording the knots of her voyage. On her decks by the chart-house they pace, the gallant leisurely passengers, Some sob deep down in her hold, the huddled frightened stowaways, But the infinite ship of my city steadily surges onward; Saluting her neighbours (audacious or timid) the lights of her starboard and larboard. Ship of my city, ship of my city, burning clear at the head of thy foremast, Who is thy captain, what is thy message, where is the port that thou makest? Into the violet vastness of shoreless and moaning twilight The infinite hulk of the ship of my city pushes her course unreturning. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SUNDAY NIGHT by LOUIS UNTERMEYER ON THE EXPECTED GENERAL RISING OF THE FRENCH NATION IN 1792 by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD THE SILLER CROUN by SUSANNA BLAMIRE SONG TO THE MEN OF ENGLAND by THOMAS CAMPBELL VENUS OF THE LOUVRE by EMMA LAZARUS ON THE 'VITA NUOVA' OF DANTE by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI LINES TO THE MEMORY OF ANNIE WHO DIED AT MILAN, JUNE 6, 1860 by HARRIET BEECHER STOWE |