A desolate shore, <br />The sinister seduction of the Moon, <br />The menace of the irreclaimable Sea. <br /> <br />Flaunting, tawdry and grim, <br />From cloud to cloud along her beat, <br />Leering her battered and inveterate leer, <br />She signals where he prowls in the dark alone, <br />Her horrible old man, <br />Mumbling old oaths and warming <br />His villainous old bones with villainous talk - <br />The secrets of their grisly housekeeping <br />Since they went out upon the pad <br />In the first twilight of self-conscious Time: <br />Growling, hideous and hoarse, <br />Tales of unnumbered Ships, <br />Goodly and strong, Companions of the Advance, <br />In some vile alley of the night <br />Waylaid and bludgeoned - <br />Dead. <br /> <br />Deep cellared in primeval ooze, <br />Ruined, dishonoured, spoiled, <br />They lie where the lean water-worm <br />Crawls free of their secrets, and their broken sides <br />Bulge with the slime of life. Thus they abide, <br />Thus fouled and desecrate, <br />The summons of the Trumpet, and the while <br />These Twain, their murderers, <br />Unravined, imperturbable, unsubdued, <br />Hang at the heels of their children--She aloft <br />As in the shining streets, <br />He as in ambush at some accomplice door. <br /> <br />The stalwart Ships, <br />The beautiful and bold adventurers! <br />Stationed out yonder in the isle, <br />The tall Policeman, <br />Flashing his bull's-eye, as he peers <br />About him in the ancient vacancy, <br />Tells them this way is safety--this way home.<br /><br />William Ernest Henley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-desolate-shore/
