Seascape Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDCEFGHIIC JCKLMNOPICQRISTUI SVITWTXIWYIICCOQ IITZA2B2IIB2IB2B2CC2 D2D2 ZIE2IZID2IZIF2

Over that morn hung heaviness untilA
Near sunless noon we heard the ship's bell beatingB
A melancholy staccato on dead metalC
Saw the bare footed watch come running aftD
Felt far below the sudden telegraph jangleC
Its harsh metallic challenge thrice repeatedE
'Stand to Half speed ahead Slow Stop her 'F
They stoppedG
The plunging pistons sank like a stopped heartH
She held she swayed a hulk a hollow carcassI
Of blistered iron that the grey green wavelessI
Unruffled tropic waters slapped languidlyC
-
And in that pause a sinister whisper ranJ
Burial at Sea a Portuguese officialC
Poor fever broken devil from MozambiqueK
Came on half tight the doctor calls it heat strokeL
Why do they travel steerage It's the exchangeM
So many million 'reis' to the poundN
What did he look like No one ever saw himO
Took to his bunk and drank and drank and diedP
They're ready SilenceI
We clustered to the railC
Curious and half ashamed The well deck spreadQ
A comfortable gulf of segregationR
Between ourselves and death 'Burial at sea'I
The master holds a black book at arm's lengthS
His droning voice comes for'ard 'This our brotherT
We therefore commit his body to the deepU
To be turned into corruption' The bo's'n whispersI
Hoarsely behind his hand 'Now all together '-
The hatch cover is tilted a mummy of sailclothS
Well ballasted with iron shoots clear of the poopV
Falls like a diving gannet The green sea closesI
Its burnished skin the snaky swell smoothes overT
While he the man of the steerage goes down downW
Feet foremost sliding swiftly down the dim waterT
Swift to escapeX
Those plunging shapes with pale empurpled belliesI
That swirl and veer about him He goes downW
Unerringly as though he knew the wayY
Through green through gloom to absolute watery darknessI
Where no weed sways nor curious fin quiversI
To the sad sunless deeps where endlesslyC
A downward drift of death spreads its wan mantleC
In the wave moulded valleys that shall enfold himO
Till the sea give up its deadQ
-
There shall he lie dispersed amid great richesI
Such gold such arrogance so many bold heartsI
All the sunken armadas pressed to powderT
By weight of incredible seas That mingled wrackZ
No livening sun shall visit till the crustA2
Of earth be riven or this rolling planetB2
Reel on its axis till the moon chained tidesI
Unloosed deliver up that white AtlantisI
Whose naked peaks shall bleach above the slakedB2
Thirst of Sahara fringed by weedy tanglesI
Of Atlas's drown'd cedars frowning eastwardB2
To where the sands of India lie coldB2
And heap'd Himalaya's a rib of coralC
Slowly uplifted grain on grainC2
-
We dreamD2
Too long Another jangle of alarumD2
Stabs at the engines 'Slow Half speed Full speed '-
The great bearings rumble the screw churns frothingZ
Opaque water to downward swelling plumesI
Milky as wood smoke A shoal of flying fishE2
Spurts out like animate spray The warm breeze wakensI
And we pass on forgettingZ
Toward the solemn horizon of bronzed cumulusI
That bounds our brooding sea gathering gloomD2
That when night falls will dissipate in flawsI
Of watery lightning washing the hot skyZ
Cleansing all hearts of heat and restlessnessI
Until with day another blue be bornF2

Francis Brett Young



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about Seascape poem by Francis Brett Young


 
Best Poems of Francis Brett Young

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 5 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets