Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ON THE BAY by RICHARD WATSON GILDER

First Line: THIS WATERY VAGUE HOW VAST! THIS MISTY GLOBE
Last Line: SHOWS THROUGH THE GRAY, ITSELF IN GRAYNESS LOST!
Subject(s): FERRY BOATS; HARBORS; LIGHTHOUSES; NEW YORK HARBOR;

This watery vague how vast! This misty globe,
Seen from this center where the ferry plies,—
It plies, but seems to poise in middle air,—
Soft gray below gray heavens, and in the West
A rose-gray memory of the sunken sun;
And, where gray water touches grayer sky,
A band of darker gray pricked out with lights,—
A diamond-twinkling circlet bounding all;
And where the statue looms, a quenchless star;
And where the lighthouse, a red, pulsing flame;
While the great bridge its starry diadem
Shows through the gray, itself in grayness lost!



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