I cannot find the following poem on the Internet, so I cannot link to it from its title. I break my rule, therefore, and post it in full. I heard it on the BBC, in the summer of 2009, in a programme fronted by John Prescott, formerly our unlamented Deputy Prime Minister. Bloggers from outwith the UK may not know that Mr. Prescott was formerly a ship's steward, then Shop Steward and thence to political prominence as representative of "Old Labour" in the Blair government. The poet, Maurice Harney, was an engineer in the UK Merchant Marine. This is a lovely little "regret" poem . . .
A Time For Sea
I shall acknowledge age
when the call of far wild seas no longer stirs my blood,
when I shall not see as a boy would see
the beauty of homebound ships harbouring on the flood.
Only then will I sit in the lee of warehouse walls,
Only then will I sit in the lee of warehouse walls,
Conjuring dreams from the river's mist.
Only then will I weep an old man's tears
For times that I have known,
For lips that I have left unkissed.
Maurice Harney
Really as beautiful as the one below is intriguing
ReplyDeleteThe poem you mentioned is one I love, my hubs got me it a few birthdays ago
ReplyDeleteHow subtle is language? If you erase "have" from the last line of Harney's poem, I feel it (marginally) improves the rhythm of the line . . but also shifts the meaning slightly . . .
ReplyDeletewith "have" - whose unkissed lips seem indeterminnate = chances passed over
without "have" - a definite "someone" - a particular lifelong regret?
A wiser poet than I once said "Poets rarely know everything their poems mean, or might mean , , , "
Why don't I shut up?
How odd - I'd have left out the 'that' in the last line. It's all in the eye -or ear- of the beholder...?!
ReplyDelete