Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SONG OF THE LIGHT CANOE by HORACE SPENCER FISKE

First Line: WHEN THE DEW IS FRESH AND THE GRASSES WET
Last Line: WHEN THE FLUSH OF THE SUNSET DIES.
Subject(s): BOATS; CANOES & CANOEING; RIVERS; SAILING & SAILORS; WATER; SEAMEN; SAILS;
WHEN the dew is fresh and the grasses wet
And the breeze is rippling bright,
I shove from the shore without an oar
In the gray of the morning light.

And my heart leaps up at the paddle flash
As my boat leaps on its way,
And a song wells out as I look about
On the sweetness of the day.

. . . . . . . .

When the river rests and the ripples sleep
And the hills are tinged with red,
I sail the sky that has fallen from high
On the shining river-bed.

And my soul drinks deep of the evening calm
As the ends of my paddle play,
And a song breathes soft to the sky aloft
In the hush of the fading day:

@3Oh, smooth and free is the boat for me
That slides with a noiseless wake,
Like a bird's free flight through the liquid light
Or a swan's through the sky-filled lake;
And the paddle-flash with never a plash,
As the day fades from my eyes,
Is sweet as a star that gleams afar
When the flush of the sunset dies@1.



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