In a solitude of the sea
Deep from human vanity,
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.

Steel chambers, late the pyres
Of her salamandrine fires,
Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.

Over the mirrors meant
To glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls -- grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.

Jewels in joy designed
To ravish the sensuous mind
Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.

Dim moon-eyed fishes near
Gaze at the gilded gear
And query: "What does this vaingloriousness down here?" ...

Well: while was fashioning
This creature of cleaving wing,
The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything

Prepared a sinister mate
For her -- so gaily great --
A Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate.

And as the smart ship grew
In stature, grace, and hue,
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.

Alien they seemed to be;
No mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history,

Or sign that they were bent
By paths coincident       
On being anon twin halves of one august event,

Till the Spinner of the Years
Said "Now!" And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.

Added: on November 22nd, 2005 at 8:19 AM | Viewed: 1967 times | Comments (2)

Poet: Thomas Hardy
Poem: Lines On The Loss Of The "Titanic"

Year: Published/Written in 1912
Poem of the Day on:
Jan 25 2007

Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Lines On The Loss Of The "Titanic", has received 2 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Thomas Hardy with others on the Poetry Connection poetry forum!