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Best Famous Exceeds Poems

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Written by James Lee Jobe | Create an image from this poem

Eternity

  for C. G. Macdonald, 1956-2006


Charlie, sunrise is a three-legged mongrel dog,

going deaf, already blind in one eye,

answering to the unlikely name, 'Lucky.'


The sky, at gray-blue dawn, is a football field painted 

by smiling artists. Each artist has 3 arms, 3 hands, 3 legs.

One leg drags behind, leaving a trail, leaving a mark.


The future resembles a cloudy dream 

where the ghosts of all your life

try to tell you something, but what?


Noon is a plate of mashed potatoes and gravy.

Midnight is an ugly chipped plate

that you only use when you are alone.


Sunset is a wise cat who ignores you

even when you are offering food; her conception

of what life is, or isn't, far exceeds our own.


This moment is a desert at midnight,

the hunting moon is full, and owls 

fly through a cloudless sky.


The past is a winding, green river valley

deep between pine covered ridges;

what can you make of that?


Night is a secret plant growing inky black against the sky.

When this plant's life is over, then day returns 

like a drunken husband who stayed out until breakfast.


A smile is a quick glimpse at the pretty face of hope.

Hope's face is framed by the beautiful night sky.

Hope's face is framed by the gray-blue dawn.


This is your life, these seconds and years

are the music for your only dance. Charlie,

This is the eternity that you get to know.


Written by Elizabeth Bishop | Create an image from this poem

The Map

 Land lies in water; it is shadowed green.
Shadows, or are they shallows, at its edges
showing the line of long sea-weeded ledges
where weeds hang to the simple blue from green.
Or does the land lean down to lift the sea from under,
drawing it unperturbed around itself?
Along the fine tan sandy shelf
is the land tugging at the sea from under?

The shadow of Newfoundland lies flat and still.
Labrador's yellow, where the moony Eskimo
has oiled it. We can stroke these lovely bays,
under a glass as if they were expected to blossom,
or as if to provide a clean cage for invisible fish.
The names of seashore towns run out to sea,
the names of cities cross the neighboring mountains
--the printer here experiencing the same excitement
as when emotion too far exceeds its cause.
These peninsulas take the water between thumb and finger
like women feeling for the smoothness of yard-goods.

Mapped waters are more quiet than the land is,
lending the land their waves' own conformation:
and Norway's hare runs south in agitation,
profiles investigate the sea, where land is.
Are they assigned, or can the countries pick their colors?
--What suits the character or the native waters best.
Topography displays no favorites; North's as near as West.
More delicate than the historians' are the map-makers' colors.
Written by Wang Wei | Create an image from this poem

A Song Of A Girl From Loyang

There's a girl from Loyang in the door across the street, 
She looks fifteen, she may be a little older. 
...While her master rides his rapid horse with jade bit an bridle, 
Her handmaid brings her cod-fish in a golden plate. 
On her painted pavilions, facing red towers, 
Cornices are pink and green with peach-bloom and with willow, 
Canopies of silk awn her seven-scented chair, 
And rare fans shade her, home to her nine-flowered curtains. 
Her lord, with rank and wealth and in the bud of life, 
Exceeds in munificence the richest men of old. 
He favours this girl of lowly birth, he has her taught to dance; 
And he gives away his coral-trees to almost anyone. 
The wind of dawn just stirs when his nine soft lights go out, 
Those nine soft lights like petals in a flying chain of flowers. 
Between dances she has barely time for singing over the songs; 
No sooner is she dressed again than incense burns before her. 
Those she knows in town are only the rich and the lavish, 
And day and night she is visiting the hosts of the gayest mansions. 
...Who notices the girl from Yue with a face of white jade, 
Humble, poor, alone, by the river, washing silk? 
Written by Ralph Waldo Emerson | Create an image from this poem

Merlin

 I
Thy trivial harp will never please 
Or fill my craving ear; 
Its chords should ring as blows the breeze, 
Free, peremptory, clear. 
No jingling serenader's art, 
Nor tinkle of piano strings, 
Can make the wild blood start 
In its mystic springs. 
The kingly bard 
Must smile the chords rudely and hard, 
As with hammer or with mace; 
That they may render back 
Artful thunder, which conveys 
Secrets of the solar track, 
Sparks of the supersolar blaze. 
Merlin's blows are strokes of fate, 
Chiming with the forest tone, 
When boughs buffet boughs in the wood; 
Chiming with the gasp and moan 
Of the ice-imprisoned hood; 
With the pulse of manly hearts; 
With the voice of orators; 
With the din of city arts; 
With the cannonade of wars; 
With the marches of the brave; 
And prayers of might from martyrs' cave.

Great is the art, 
Great be the manners, of the bard. 
He shall not his brain encumber 
With the coil of rhythm and number; 
But, leaving rule and pale forethought, 
He shall aye climb 
For his rhyme. 
"Pass in, pass in," the angels say, 
"In to the upper doors, 
Nor count compartments of the floors, 
But mount to paradise 
By the stairway of surprise." 

Blameless master of the games, 
King of sport that never shames, 
He shall daily joy dispense 
Hid in song's sweet influence. 
Forms more cheerly live and go, 
What time the subtle mind 
Sings aloud the tune whereto 
Their pulses beat, 
And march their feet, 
And their members are combined. 

By Sybarites beguiled, 
He shall no task decline; 
Merlin's mighty line 
Extremes of nature reconciled, 
Bereaved a tyrant of his will, 
And made the lion mild. 
Songs can the tempest still, 
Scattered on the stormy air, 
Mold the year to fair increase, 
And bring in poetic peace. 
He shall nor seek to weave, 
In weak, unhappy times, 
Efficacious rhymes; 
Wait his returning strength. 
Bird that from the nadir's floor 
To the zenith's top can soar, 
The roaring orbit of the muse exceeds that journey's length. 
Nor profane affect to hit 
Or compass that, by meddling wit, 
Which only the propitious mind 
Publishes when 'tis inclined. 
There are open hours 
When the God's will sallies free, 
And the dull idiot might see 
The flowing fortunes of a thousand years; 
Sudden, at unawares, 
Self-moved, fly-to the doors, 
Nor sword of angels could reveal 
What they conceal. 

II
The rhyme of the poet 
Modulates the king's affairs; 
Balance-loving Nature 
Made all things in pairs. 
To every foot its antipode; 
Each color with its counter glowed: 
To every tone beat answering tones, 
Higher or graver; 
Flavor gladly blends with flavor; 
Leaf answers leaf upon the bough; 
And match the paired cotyledons. 
Hands to hands, and feet to feet, 
In one body grooms and brides; 
Eldest rite, two married sides 
In every mortal meet. 
Light's far furnace shines, 
Smelting balls and bars, 
Forging double stars, 
Glittering twins and trines. 
The animals are sick with love, 
Lovesick with rhyme; 
Each with all propitious Time 
Into chorus wove. 

Like the dancers' ordered band, 
Thoughts come also hand in hand; 
In equal couples mated, 
Or else alternated; 
Adding by their mutual gage, 
One to other, health and age. 
Solitary fancies go 
Short-lived wandering to and ire, 
Most like to bachelors, 
Or an ungiven maid, 
Nor ancestors, 
With no posterity to make the lie afraid, 
Or keep truth undecayed. 
Perfect-paired as eagle's wings, 
Justice is the rhyme of things; 
Trade and counting use 
The self-same tuneful muse; 
And Nemesis, 
Who with even matches odd, 
Who athwart space redresses 
The partial wrong, 
Fills the just period, 
And finishes the song. 

Subtle rhymes, with ruin rife 
Murmur in the hour of life, 
Sung by the Sisters as they spin; 
In perfect time and measure they 
Build and unbuild our echoing clay. 
As the two twilights of the day 
Fold us music-drunken in.
Written by Ralph Waldo Emerson | Create an image from this poem

Merlin I

 Thy trivial harp will never please
Or fill my craving ear;
Its chords should ring as blows the breeze,
Free, peremptory, clear.
No jingling serenader's art,
Nor tinkle of piano strings,
Can make the wild blood start
In its mystic springs.
The kingly bard
Must smite the chords rudely and hard,
As with hammer or with mace,
That they may render back
Artful thunder that conveys
Secrets of the solar track,
Sparks of the supersolar blaze.
Merlin's blows are strokes of fate,
Chiming with the forest-tone,
When boughs buffet boughs in the wood;
Chiming with the gasp and moan
Of the ice-imprisoned flood;
With the pulse of manly hearts,
With the voice of orators,
With the din of city arts,
With the cannonade of wars.
With the marches of the brave,
And prayers of might from martyrs' cave.

Great is the art,
Great be the manners of the bard!
He shall not his brain encumber
With the coil of rhythm and number,
But, leaving rule and pale forethought,
He shall aye climb
For his rhyme:
Pass in, pass in, the angels say,
In to the upper doors;
Nor count compartments of the floors,
But mount to Paradise
By the stairway of surprise.

Blameless master of the games,
King of sport that never shames;
He shall daily joy dispense
Hid in song's sweet influence.
Things more cheerly live and go,
What time the subtle mind
Plays aloud the tune whereto
Their pulses beat,
And march their feet,
And their members are combined.

By Sybarites beguiled
He shall no task decline;
Merlin's mighty line,
Extremes of nature reconciled,
Bereaved a tyrant of his will,
And made the lion mild.
Songs can the tempest still,
Scattered on the stormy air,
Mould the year to fair increase,
And bring in poetic peace.

He shall not seek to weave,
In weak unhappy times,
Efficacious rhymes;
Wait his returning strength,
Bird, that from the nadir's floor,
To the zenith's top could soar,
The soaring orbit of the muse exceeds that journey's length!

Nor, profane, affect to hit
Or compass that by meddling wit,
Which only the propitious mind
Publishes when 'tis inclined.
There are open hours
When the god's will sallies free,
And the dull idiot might see
The flowing fortunes of a thousand years;
Sudden, at unawares,
Self-moved fly-to the doors,
Nor sword of angels could reveal
What they conceal.


Written by Claude McKay | Create an image from this poem

One Year After

 I 

Not once in all our days of poignant love, 
Did I a single instant give to thee 
My undivided being wholly free. 
Not all thy potent passion could remove 
The barrier that loomed between to prove 
The full supreme surrendering of me. 
Oh, I was beaten, helpless utterly 
Against the shadow-fact with which I strove. 
For when a cruel power forced me to face 
The truth which poisoned our illicit wine, 
That even I was faithless to my race 
Bleeding beneath the iron hand of thine, 
Our union seemed a monstrous thing and base! 
I was an outcast from thy world and mine. 

II 

Adventure-seasoned and storm-buffeted, 
I shun all signs of anchorage, because 
The zest of life exceeds the bound of laws. 
New gales of tropic fury round my head 
Break lashing me through hours of soulful dread; 
But when the terror thins and, spent, withdraws, 
Leaving me wondering awhile, I pause-- 
But soon again the risky ways I tread! 
No rigid road for me, no peace, no rest, 
While molten elements run through my blood; 
And beauty-burning bodies manifest 
Their warm, heart-melting motions to be wooed; 
And passion boldly rising in my breast, 
Like rivers of the Spring, lets loose its flood.
Written by Francesco Petrarch | Create an image from this poem

Sestina I

SESTINA I.

Mia benigna fortuna e 'l viver lieto.

IN HIS MISERY HE DESIRES DEATH THE MORE HE REMEMBERS HIS PAST CONTENTMENT AND COMFORT.

My favouring fortune and my life of joy,My days so cloudless, and my tranquil nights,The tender sigh, the pleasing power of song,Which gently wont to sound in verse and rhyme,[Pg 289]Suddenly darken'd into grief and tears,Make me hate life and inly pray for death!
O cruel, grim, inexorable Death!How hast thou dried my every source of joy,And left me to drag on a life of tears,Through darkling days and melancholy nights.My heavy sighs no longer meet in rhyme,And my hard martyrdom exceeds all song!
Where now is vanish'd my once amorous song?To talk of anger and to treat with death;Where the fond verses, where the happy rhymeWelcomed by gentle hearts with pensive joy?Where now Love's communings that cheer'd my nights?My sole theme, my one thought, is now but tears!
Erewhile to my desire so sweet were tearsTheir tenderness refined my else rude song,And made me wake and watch the livelong nights;But sorrow now to me is worse than death,Since lost for aye that look of modest joy,The lofty subject of my lowly rhyme!
Love in those bright eyes to my ready rhymeGave a fair theme, now changed, alas! to tears;With grief remembering that time of joy,My changed thoughts issue find in other song,Evermore thee beseeching, pallid Death,To snatch and save me from these painful nights!
Sleep has departed from my anguish'd nights,Music is absent from my rugged rhyme,Which knows not now to sound of aught but death;Its notes, so thrilling once, all turn'd to tears,Love knows not in his reign such varied song,As full of sadness now as then of joy!
Man lived not then so crown'd as I with joy,Man lives not now such wretched days and nights;And my full festering grief but swells the songWhich from my bosom draws the mournful rhyme;I lived in hope, who now live but in tears,Nor against death have other hope save death!
[Pg 290]Me Death in her has kill'd; and only DeathCan to my sight restore that face of joy,Which pleasant made to me e'en sighs and tears,Balmy the air, and dewy soft the nights,Wherein my choicest thoughts I gave to rhymeWhile Love inspirited my feeble song!
Would that such power as erst graced Orpheus' songWere mine to win my Laura back from death,As he Eurydice without a rhyme;Then would I live in best excess of joy;Or, that denied me, soon may some sad nightClose for me ever these twin founts of tears!
Love! I have told with late and early tears,My grievous injuries in doleful song;Not that I hope from thee less cruel nights;And therefore am I urged to pray for death,Which hence would take me but to crown with joy,Where lives she whom I sing in this sad rhyme!
If so high may aspire my weary rhyme,To her now shelter'd safe from rage and tears,Whose beauties fill e'en heaven with livelier joy,Well would she recognise my alter'd song,Which haply pleased her once, ere yet by deathHer days were cloudless made and dark my nights!
O ye, who fondly sigh for better nights,Who listen to love's will, or sing in rhyme,Pray that for me be no delay in death,The port of misery, the goal of tears,But let him change for me his ancient song,Since what makes others sad fills me with joy!
Ay! for such joy, in one or in few nights,I pray in rude song and in anguish'd rhyme,That soon my tears may ended be in death!
Macgregor.
Written by Rainer Maria Rilke | Create an image from this poem

The Second Elegy

Every angel is terrifying. And yet alas
I invoked you almost deadly birds of the soul
knowing about you. Where are the days of Tobias
when one of you veiling his radiance stood at the front door  
slightly disguised for the journey no longer appalling;
(a young man like the one who curiously peeked through the window).
But if the archangel now perilous from behind the stars
took even one step down toward us: our own heart beating
higher and higher would bear us to death. Who are you?

Early successes Creation's pampered favorites
mountain-ranges peaks growing red in the dawn
of all Beginning -pollen of the flowering godhead
joints of pure light corridors stairways thrones
space formed from essence shields made of ecstasy storms
of emotion whirled into rapture and suddenly alone:
mirrors which scoop up the beauty that has streamed from their face
and gather it back into themselves entire.

But we when moved by deep feeling evaporate; we
breathe ourselves out and away; from moment to moment
our emotion grows fainter like a perfume. Though someone may tell us:
Yes, you've entered my bloodstream, the room, the whole springtime
is filled with you¡­ -what does it matter? he can't contain us
we vanish inside him and around him. And those who are beautiful
oh who can retain them? Appearance ceaselessly rises
in their face and is gone. Like dew from the morning grass
what is ours floats into the air like steam from a dish
of hot food. O smile where are you going? O upturned glance:
new warm receding wave on the sea of the heart¡­
alas but that is what we are. Does the infinite space
we dissolve into taste of us then? Do the angels really
reabsorb only the radiance that streamed out from themselves or
sometimes as if by an oversight is there a trace
of our essence in it as well? Are we mixed in with their
features even as slightly as that vague look
in the faces of pregnant women? They do not notice it
(how could they notice) in their swirling return to themselves.

Lovers if they knew how might utter strange marvelous
Words in the night air. For it seems that everything
hides us. Look: trees do exist; the houses
that we live in still stand. We alone
fly past all things as fugitive as the wind.
And all things conspire to keep silent about us half
out of shame perhaps half as unutterable hope.

Lovers gratified in each other I am asking you
about us. You hold each other. Where is your proof?
Look sometimes I find that my hands have become aware
of each other or that my time-worn face
shelters itself inside them. That gives me a slight
sensation. But who would dare to exist just for that?
You though who in the other's passion
grow until overwhelmed he begs you:
No more¡­ ; you who beneath his hands
swell with abundance like autumn grapes;
you who may disappear because the other has wholly
emerged: I am asking you about us. I know
you touch so blissfully because the caress preserves
because the place you so tenderly cover
does not vanish; because underneath it 
you feel pure duration. So you promise eternity almost
from the embrace. And yet when you have survived
the terror of the first glances the longing at the window
and the first walk together once only through the garden:
lovers are you the same? When you lift yourselves up
to each other's mouth and your lips join drink against drink:
oh how strangely each drinker seeps away from his action.

Weren't you astonished by the caution of human gestures
on Attic gravestones? Wasn't love and departure
placed so gently on shoulders that is seemed to be made
of a different substance than in our world? Remember the hands
how weightlessly they rest though there is power in the torsos.
These self-mastered figures know: "We can go this far
This is ours to touch one another this lightly; the gods
Can press down harder upon us. But that is the gods' affair."

If only we too could discover a pure contained
human place our own strip of fruit-bearing soil
between river and rock. For our own heart always exceeds us
as theirs did. And we can no longer follow it gazing
into images that soothe it into the godlike bodies
where measured more greatly if achieves a greater repose.
Written by Henry Vaughan | Create an image from this poem

The Nativity

 Peace? and to all the world? sure, One
And He the Prince of Peace, hath none.
He travels to be born, and then
Is born to travel more again.
Poor Galilee! thou canst not be
The place for His nativity.
His restless mother's called away,
And not delivered till she pay.
A tax? 'tis so still! we can see
The church thrive in her misery;
And like her Head at Bethlem, rise
When she, oppressed with troubles, lies.
Rise? should all fall, we cannot be
In more extremities than He.
Great Type of passions! come what will,
Thy grief exceeds all copies still.
Thou cam'st from heaven to earth, that we
Might go from earth to heaven with Thee.
And though Thou foundest no welcome here,
Thou didst provide us mansions there.
A stable was Thy court, and when
Men turned to beasts, beasts would be men.
They were Thy courtiers, others none;
And their poor manger was Thy throne.
No swaddling silks Thy limbs did fold,
Though Thou couldst turn Thy rays to gold.
No rockers waited on Thy birth,
No cradles stirred, nor songs of mirth;
But her chaste lap and sacred breast
Which lodged Thee first did give Thee rest.
But stay: what light is that doth stream,
And drop here in a gilded beam?
It is Thy star runs page, and brings
Thy tributary Eastern kings.
Lord! grant some light to us, that we
May with them find the way to Thee.
Behold what mists eclipse the day:
How dark it is! shed down one ray
To guide us out of this sad night,
And say once more, "Let there be light."
Written by Andrew Marvell | Create an image from this poem

Blakes Victory

 On the Victory Obtained by Blake over the Spaniards in the Bay of Santa Cruz, in the Island of Tenerife, 1657

Now does Spain's fleet her spacious wings unfold, 
Leaves the New World and hastens for the old: 
But though the wind was fair, they slowly swum 
Freighted with acted guilt, and guilt to come: 
For this rich load, of which so proud they are, 
Was raised by tyranny, and raised for war; 
Every capacious gallion's womb was filled, 
With what the womb of wealthy kingdoms yield, 
The New World's wounded entrails they had tore, 
For wealth wherewith to wound the Old once more: 
Wealth which all others' avarice might cloy, 
But yet in them caused as much fear as joy. 
For now upon the main, themselves they saw-- 
That boundless empire, where you give the law-- 
Of winds' and waters' rage, they fearful be, 
But much more fearful are your flags to see. 
Day, that to those who sail upon the deep, 
More wished for, and more welcome is than sleep, 
They dreaded to behold, lest the sun's light, 
With English streamers, should salute their sight: 
In thickest darkness they would choose to steer, 
So that such darkness might suppress their fear; 
At length theirs vanishes, and fortune smiles; 
For they behold the sweet Canary Isles; 
One of which doubtless is by Nature blessed 
Above both Worlds, since 'tis above the rest. 
For lest some gloominess might strain her sky, 
Trees there the duty of the clouds supply; 
O noble trust which heav'n on this isle pours, 
Fertile to be, yet never need her show'rs. 
A happy people, which at once do gain 
The benefits without the ills of rain. 
Both health and profit fate cannot deny; 
Where still the earth is moist, the air still dry; 
The jarring elements no discord know, 
Fuel and rain together kindly grow; 
And coolness there, with heat doth never fight, 
This only rules by day, and that by night. 

Your worth to all these isles, a just right brings, 
The best of lands should have the best of kings. 
And these want nothing heaven can afford, 
Unless it be--the having you their Lord; 
But this great want will not a long one prove, 
Your conquering sword will soon that want remove. 
For Spain had better--she'll ere long confess-- 
Have broken all her swords, than this one peace, 
Casting that legue off, which she held so long, 
She cast off that which only made her strong. 
Forces and art, she soon will feel, are vain, 
Peace, against you, was the sole strength of Spain. 
By that alone those islands she secures, 
Peace made them hers, but war will make them yours. 
There the indulgent soil that rich grape breeds, 
Which of the gods the fancied drink exceeds; 
They still do yield, such is their precious mould, 
All that is good, and are not cursed with gold-- 
With fatal gold, for still where that does grow, 
Neither the soil, not people, quiet know. 
Which troubles men to raise it when 'tis ore, 
And when 'tis raised, does trouble them much more. 
Ah, why was thither brought that cause of war, 
Kind Nature had from thence removed so far? 
In vain doth she those islands free from ill, 
If fortune can make guilty what she will. 
But whilst I draw that scene, where you ere long, 
Shall conquests act, your present are unsung. 

For Santa Cruz the glad fleet makes her way, 
And safely there casts anchor in the bay. 
Never so many with one joyful cry, 
That place saluted, where they all must die. 
Deluded men! Fate with you did but sport, 
You 'scaped the sea, to perish in your port. 
'Twas more for England's fame you should die there, 
Where you had most of strength, and least of fear. 

The Peak's proud height the Spaniards all admire, 
Yet in their breasts carry a pride much high'r. 
Only to this vast hill a power is given, 
At once both to inhabit earth and heaven. 
But this stupendous prospect did not near, 
Make them admire, so much as they did fear. 

For here they met with news, which did produce, 
A grief, above the cure of grapes' best juice. 
They learned with terror that nor summer's heat, 
Nor winter's storms, had made your fleet retreat. 
To fight against such foes was vain, they knew, 
Which did the rage of elements subdue, 
Who on the ocean that does horror give, 
To all besides, triumphantly do live. 

With haste they therefore all their gallions moor, 
And flank with cannon from the neighbouring shore. 
Forts, lines, and scones all the bay along, 
They build and act all that can make them strong. 

Fond men who know not whilst such works they raise, 
They only labour to exalt your praise. 
Yet they by restless toil became at length, 
So proud and confident of their made strength, 
That they with joy their boasting general heard, 
Wish then for that assault he lately feared. 
His wish he has, for now undaunted Blake, 
With wing?d speed, for Santa Cruz does make. 
For your renown, his conquering fleet does ride, 
O'er seas as vast as is the Spaniards' pride. 
Whose fleet and trenches viewed, he soon did say, 
`We to their strength are more obliged than they. 
Were't not for that, they from their fate would run, 
And a third world seek out, our arms to shun. 
Those forts, which there so high and strong appear, 
Do not so much suppress, as show their fear. 
Of speedy victory let no man doubt, 
Our worst work's past, now we have found them out. 
Behold their navy does at anchor lie, 
And they are ours, for now they cannot fly.' 

This said, the whole fleet gave it their applause, 
And all assumes your courage, in your cause. 
That bay they enter, which unto them owes, 
The noblest of wreaths, that victory bestows. 
Bold Stayner leads: this fleet's designed by fate, 
To give him laurel, as the last did plate. 

The thundering cannon now begins the fight, 
And though it be at noon creates a night. 
The air was soon after the fight begun, 
Far more enflamed by it than by the sun. 
Never so burning was that climate known, 
War turned the temperate to the torrid zone. 

Fate these two fleets between both worlds had brought, 
Who fight, as if for both those worlds they fought. 
Thousands of ways thousands of men there die, 
Some ships are sunk, some blown up in the sky. 
Nature ne'er made cedars so high aspire, 
As oaks did then urged by the active fire, 
Which by quick powder's force, so high was sent, 
That it returned to its own element. 
Torn limbs some leagues into the island fly, 
Whilst others lower in the sea do lie, 
Scarce souls from bodies severed are so far 
By death, as bodies there were by the war. 
The all-seeing sun, ne'er gazed on such a sight, 
Two dreadful navies there at anchor fight. 
And neither have or power or will to fly, 
There one must conquer, or there both must die. 
Far different motives yet engaged them thus, 
Necessity did them, but Choice did us. 

A choice which did the highest worth express, 
And was attended by as high success. 
For your resistless genius there did reign, 
By which we laurels reaped e'en on the main. 
So properous stars, though absent to the sense, 
Bless those they shine for, by their influence. 

Our cannon now tears every ship and sconce, 
And o'er two elements triumphs at once. 
Their gallions sunk, their wealth the sea doth fill-- 
The only place where it can cause no ill. 

Ah, would those treasures which both Indies have, 
Were buried in as large, and deep a grave, 
Wars' chief support with them would buried be, 
And the land owe her peace unto the sea. 
Ages to come your conquering arms will bless, 
There they destroy what had destroyed their peace. 
And in one war the present age may boast 
The certain seeds of many wars are lost. 

All the foe's ships destroyed, by sea or fire, 
Victorious Blake, does from the bay retire, 
His siege of Spain he then again pursues, 
And there first brings of his success the news: 
The saddest news that e'er to Spain was brought, 
Their rich fleet sunk, and ours with laurel fraught, 
Whilst fame in every place her trumpet blows, 
And tells the world how much to you it owes.

Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry