Where Shall We Land?

"Where shall we land you, sweet?" - Swinburne.


All listlessly we float
Out seaward in the boat
        That beareth Love.
Our sails of purest snow
Bend to the blue below
    And to the blue above.
        Where shall we land?

We drift upon a tide
Shoreless on every side,
    Save where the eye
Of Fancy sweeps far lands
Shelved slopingly with sands
    Of gold and porphyry.
        Where shall we land?

The fairy isles we see,
Loom up so mistily -
    So vaguely fair,
We do not care to break
Fresh bubbles in our wake
    To bend our course for there.
        Where shall we land?

The warm winds of the deep
Have lulled our sails to sleep,
    And so we glide
Careless of wave or wind,
Or change of any kind,
    Or turn of any tide.
        Where shall we land?

We droop our dreamy eyes
Where our reflection lies
    Steeped in the sea,
And, in an endless fit
Of languor, smile on it
    And its sweet mimicry.
        Where shall we land?

"Where shall we land?" God's grace!
I know not any place
    So fair as this -
Swung here between the blue
Of sea and sky, with you
    To ask me, with a kiss,
        "Where shall we land?"

James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. He was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and the "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and children's poetry respectively. Over his career, Riley authored approximately 1,000 poems, including "Little Orphant Annie" and "The Raggedy Man". His influence extended into the 20th century, and his works continued to be celebrated for their nostalgic and rural themes.

James Whitcomb Riley

A Fruit Piece

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James Whitcomb Riley, Simple Poetry

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Thomas The Pretender

James Whitcomb Riley, Simple Poetry

English

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Love at Sea

Imitated from Théophile Gautier


We are in loves land to-day;
Where shall we go?
Love, shall we start or stay,
Or sail or row?
Theres many a wind and way,
And never a May but May;
We are in loves hand to-day;
Where shall we go?

Our landwind is the breath
Of sorrows kissed to death
And joys that were;
Our ballast is a rose;
Our way lies where God knows
And love knows where.
We are in loves hand to-day

Our seamen are fledged Loves,
Our masts are bills of doves,
Our decks fine gold;
Our ropes are dead maids hair,
Our stores are love-shafts fair
And manifold.
We are in loves land to-day

Where shall we land you, sweet?
On fields of strange mens feet,
Or fields near home?
Or...

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Where-Away.

    O the Lands of Where-Away!
    Tell us - tell us - where are they?
    Through the darkness and the dawn
    We have journeyed on and on -
    From the cradle to the cross -
    From possession unto loss, -
    Seeking still, from day to day,
    For the lands of Where-Away.

    When our baby-feet were first
    Planted where the daisies burst,
    And the greenest grasses grew
    In the fields we wandered through,
    On, with childish discontent,
    Ever on and on we went,
    Hoping still to pass, some day,
    O'er the verge of Where-Away.

    Roses laid their velvet lips
    On our own, with fragrant sips;
    But their kisses held us not,
    All their sweetness we forgot; -
    Though the brambles in our track
...

James Whitcomb Riley

The Beautiful Land Of Nod.

        Come, cuddle your head on my shoulder, dear,
    Your head like the golden-rod,
        And we will go sailing away from here
    To the beautiful Land of Nod.
        Away from life's hurry and flurry and worry,
    Away from earth's shadows and gloom,
        To a world of fair weather we'll float off together,
    Where roses are always in bloom.

        Just shut your eyes and fold your hands,
    Your hands like the leaves of a rose,
        And we will go sailing to those fair lands
    That never an atlas shows.
        On the North and the West they are bounded by rest,
    On the South and the East, by dreams;
        'Tis the country ideal, where nothing is real,
    But everything only seems.

        Just drop down the curtains o...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

At Sea

O we go down to sea in ships -
But Hope remains behind,
And Love, with laughter on his lips,
And Peace, of passive mind;
While out across the deeps of night,
With lifted sails of prayer,
We voyage off in quest of light,
Nor find it anywhere.

O Thou who wroughtest earth and sea,
Yet keepest from our eyes
The shores of an eternity
In calms of Paradise,
Blow back upon our foolish quest
With all the driving rain
Of blinding tears and wild unrest,
And waft us home again.

James Whitcomb Riley

The Land Of Love

Hail! voyagers, hail!
Whence e'er ye come, where'er ye rove,
    No calmer strand,
    No sweeter land,
Will e'er ye view, than the Land of Love!

    Hail! voyagers, hail!
To these, our shores, soft gales invite:
    The palm plumes wave,
    The billows lave,
And hither point fix'd stars of light!

    Hail! voyagers, hail!
Think not our groves wide brood with gloom;
    In this, our isle,
    Bright flowers smile:
Full urns, rose-heaped, these valleys bloom.

    Hail! voyagers, hail!
Be not deceived; renounce vain things;
    Ye may not find
    A tranquil mind,
Though hence ye sail with swiftest wings.

    Hail! voyagers, hail!
Time flies full fast; life soon is o'er;
    And ye may mourn,
    That h...

Herman Melville

Where Lies The Land To Which Yon Ship Must Go?

Where lies the Land to which yon Ship must go?
Fresh as a lark mounting at break of day,
Festively she puts forth in trim array;
Is she for tropic suns, or polar snow?
What boots the inquiry? Neither friend nor foe
She cares for; let her travel where she may,
She finds familiar names, a beaten way
Ever before her, and a wind to blow.
Yet still I ask, what haven is her mark?
And, almost as it was when ships were rare,
(From time to time, like Pilgrims, here and there
Crossing the waters) doubt, and something dark,
Of the old Sea some reverential fear,
Is with me at thy farewell, joyous Bark!

William Wordsworth