Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WHILE THE MUSICIAN PLAYED by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: O IT WAS BUT A DREAM I HAD
Last Line: THAT VOYAGED WITH THE CREW.
Subject(s): DREAMS; SEA; NIGHTMARES; OCEAN;
O it was but a dream I had
While the musicians played!
And here the sky, and here the glad
Old ocean kissed the glade;
And here the laughing ripples ran,
And here the roses grew
That threw a kiss to every man
That voyaged with the crew.

Our silken sails in lazy folds
Drooped in the breathless breeze:
As o'er a field of marigolds
Our eyes swam o'er the seas;
While here the eddies lisped and purled
Around the island's rim,
And up from out the underworld
We saw the mermen swim.

And it was dawn and middle-day
And midnight - for the moon
On silver rounds across the bay
Had climbed the skies of June, --
And there the glowing, glorious king
Of day ruled o'er his realm,
With stars of midnight glittering
About his diadem.

The sea-gull reeled on languid wing
In circles round the mast,
We heard the songs the sirens sing
As we went sailing past;
And up and down the golden sands
A thousand fairy throngs
Flung at us from their flashing hands
The echoes of their songs.

O it was but a dream I had
While the musician played!
For here the sky, and here the glad
Old ocean kissed the glade;
And here the laughing ripples ran,
And here the roses grew
That threw a kiss to every man
That voyaged with the crew.



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