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A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

O Long The Way

Morris Rosenfeld

O long the way and short the day,
  No light in tower or town,
The waters roar and far the shore—
  My ship, my ship goes down!

’Tis all in vain to strive again,
  My cry the billows drown,
The fight is done, the wind has won—
  My ship, my ship goes down!

Bright sun, adieu! Thou’lt shine anew
  When skies no longer frown,
But I—the deafening billows crash—
  My ship, my ship goes down!

Translated by Rose Pastor Stokes and Helena Frank

Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Songs of Labor and Other Poems
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