William Ernest Henley (Уильям Эрнст Хенли)
Rhymes and Rhythms. 3. A Desolate Shore
A desolate shore, The sinister seduction of the Moon, The menace of the irreclaimable Sea. Flaunting, tawdry and grim, From cloud to cloud along her beat, Leering her battered and inveterate leer, She signals where he prowls in the dark alone, Her horrible old man, Mumbling old oaths and warming His villainous old bones with villainous talk - The secrets of their grisly housekeeping Since they went out upon the pad In the first twilight of self-conscious Time: Growling, hideous and hoarse, Tales of unnumbered Ships, Goodly and strong, Companions of the Advance, In some vile alley of the night Waylaid and bludgeoned - Dead. Deep cellared in primeval ooze, Ruined, dishonoured, spoiled, They lie where the lean water-worm Crawls free of their secrets, and their broken sides Bulge with the slime of life. Thus they abide, Thus fouled and desecrate, The summons of the Trumpet, and the while These Twain, their murderers, Unravined, imperturbable, unsubdued, Hang at the heels of their children--She aloft As in the shining streets, He as in ambush at some accomplice door. The stalwart Ships, The beautiful and bold adventurers! Stationed out yonder in the isle, The tall Policeman, Flashing his bull's-eye, as he peers About him in the ancient vacancy, Tells them this way is safety--this way home.
William Ernest Henley’s other poems:
- Rhymes and Rhythms. 23. Here They Trysted, Here They Strayed
- Rhymes and Rhythms. Epilogue
- Rhymes and Rhythms. 20. The Shadow of Dawn
- Rhymes and Rhythms. 21. When the Wind Storms by with a Shout, and the Stern Sea-Caves
- Echoes. 14. The Wan Sun Westers, Faint and Slow
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