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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BRIGHTON by FREDERICK WILLIAM HENRY MYERS

First Line: HER BRAVE SEA-BULWARKS BUILDED STRONG
Last Line: "AND TRUST THE DARKNESS AND THE SEA?"
Subject(s): BRIGHTON, ENGLAND;
I

HER brave sea-bulwarks builded strong
No tides uproot, no storms appal;
By sea-blown tamarisks the throng
Of idlers pace her broad sea-wall;
Rain-plashed the long-lit pavements gleam;
Still press the gay groups to and fro;
Dark midnight deepens; on they stream;
The wheels, the clattering horses go.

II

But that wave-limit close anear,
Which kissed at morn the children's play,
With dusk becomes a phantom fear,
Throws in the night a ghostly spray:—
O starless waste! remote despair!
Deep-weltering wildness, pulsing gloom!
As tho' the whole world's heart was there,
And all the whole world's heart a tomb.

III

Eternal sounds the waves' refrain;
"Eternal night,"—they moan and say,—
"Eternal peace, eternal pain,
Press close upon your dying day.
Who, who at once beyond the bound,
What world-worn soul will rise and flee,—
Leave the crude lights and clamorous sound,
And trust the darkness and the sea?"



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