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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SAND & SPRAY: SEA-SYMPHONY. 3. VARIATIONS: 4. THE WRECK by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER

First Line: ITS HUGE RED PROW
Last Line: ALONE WITH ITS FORGOTTEN TRAGEDY.
Subject(s): DISASTERS; SHIPWRECKS;

Grave: triste

Its huge red prow
Uplifted in a tragic attitude,
It waits out there; the seas around
Bubble and hiss with moaning sound:
In sight of port at the gates of the sea,
It waits upreared expectantly.

It has known the joy of battle,
It has known the shock of wreck:
The spray coated its planking,
The sands swallow its deck:
Monument of the sea,
That knows and that forgets eternally.

It heaves its scarred brow towards the city:
The city pays it little heed:
Indifferent, brutal, without pity,
Stern cargo-steamers trudge and speed;
The sun glares on it and the gulls wheel and flash,
The rain beats on its deck, the winds pass silently;
It is out there alone with the immense sea:
Alone with its forgotten tragedy.



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