Other Poems Concerning the Sea

The Sea's Moods - Laura Johnson

Green, blue, gray and black
many moods it can have
happy and calme, mad and anxious
as the waves crash

stormy seas, stormy seas
turning the sky black
in its rage
in its fury
it makes boats crack

when it's sad
gray the water turns
making the clouds shed tears
it makes boats turn away
to head back to the piers

happy, blissful, joy and all
a nice sunny sky
compliments the clear blue water
the sea creatures rolling in the waves
as they foam white on
the surface.





La Balada del Aqua del Mar - Federic Gracia Lorca

El mar
sonrie a lo lejos.
Dientes de espuma,
labios de cielo.

¿Qué vendes, oh joven turbia
con lossenos al aire?

Vendo, señor, el agua
de los mares.

¿Que llevas, oh negro joven,
mezclado con tu sangre?

Llevo, señor, el agua
de los mares.

Esas lágrimas salobres
¿de donde vienen, madre?

Lloro, señor, el agua
de los mares.

Corazon, y esta amargura
seria, ¿de donde nace?

¡Amarga much el agua
de los mares!

El mar
sonrie a lo lejos.
Dientes de espuma,
labios de cielo.

(A loose translation)

The Ballad of the Sea's Water - Federico Garcia Lorca

The sea smiles at it in the distance.,
The teeth foam, at the edge of the sky.

What are you selling?
Oh yound cloud with the hear of air.

Sell, sir, the water of the seas.

What to bring, oh dark youth,
Mixed with your blood?

Carry, sir, the water of the seas.

These salty tears,
Where do they come from, mother?

Weep, sir, the water of the seas.

Heart, and this bitterness,
Truly, where is it born?

So much bitter water of the seas!

The sea smiles at it in the distance.
The teeth foam, at the edge of the sky.





Among the Rocks - Robert Browning

Oh, good gigantic smile o'the brown old earth.
This autumn morning! How he sets his bones
To bask i'the sun, and thrusts out knees and feet.

For the ripple to run over in its mirth;
Listening the while, where on the heap of stones
The white breast of the sea-lark twitters sweet.

That is the doctrine, simple, ancient, true;
Such is life's trial, as old earth smiles and knows.
If you loved only what were worth your love,
Love were clear gain, and wholly well for You:
Make the low nature better by your throes:
Give earth yourself, go up for gain above!




Annabel Lee - Edgar Allen Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee,
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee,
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me -
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud one night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we -
Of many far wiser than we -
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling -my darling -my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea -
In her tomb by the sounding sea.



This is an excerpt from one of T.S. Eliot's quartets, Number 3:

The Dry Salvages - T.S. Eliot

The river is within us, the sea is all about us;
The sea is the land's edge also, the granite
Into which it reaches, the beaches where it tosses
Its hints of earlier and other creation:
The starfish, the horseshoe crab, the whale's backbone;
The pools where it offers to our curiosity
The more delicate algae and the sea anemone.
It tosses up our losses, the torn seine,
The shattered lobsterpot, the broken oar
And the gear of foreign dead men.
The sea has many voices,
Many gods and many voices.