WHEN the sailor left the seas They swayed like June's thick-leaved trees; The winds seemed only nightingales That sang so sweetly leafy tales Of rustic vows among deep leaves, -- Of Thisbe's love, how Priam grieves. The sailor stumps his wooden leg In shady lanes where he must beg, Till skies shone like the fields he knew, -- Golden with buttercups and dew; Then, slightly drunk, he sees an Inn Beckon him to step within. The parlour runs on feathered feet Bird-like, "Neptune, thee we greet," It cries; the flames, an albatross, Float on blue air like waves that toss, Bird-like shriek, "The sea floats still Just above the window-sill!" "No, it is June's thick blue trees." Heeding not the sound of these Across the bar, through silver spray Of the sweet and blossomed may, Leaned the Circean landlady, With her dark locks leafy shady, And eyes that seemed the dancing sound Of waves upon enchanted ground. "Did you batter down Troy's wall, -- (Silver hawthorn trees grown tall), Did you beg the Khan for mercy, Did you meet the lady Circe?" "She is changing like the sea . . . Shadow, like a lovely lady With an elegant footfall, Never seemed so lovely; all Her airs were beautiful as sleep, Or dew too fair for flower to weep." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CHRISTMAS FOLKSONG by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 47 by ALFRED TENNYSON A PARTING SONG by WILLIAM AITKEN ARISTOPHANES' APOLOGY; BEING THE LAST ADVENTURE OF BALAUSTION: PART 1 by ROBERT BROWNING ONE OF MANY by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR |