Monday, August 4, 2025

Still(ING) The Ocean


 O Sea, That Knowest Thy Strength


Effie Lee Newsome


Hast thou been known to sing,

        O sea, that knowest thy strength? 

Hast thou been known to sing?  

        Thy voice, can it rejoice? 

Naught save great sorrowing, 

        To me, thy sounds incessant

Do express, naught save great sorrowing. 

Thy lips, they daily kiss the sand,

        In wanton mockery. 

Deep in thine awful heart

        Thou dost not love the land. 

        Thou dost not love the land. 

        O sea, that knowest thy strength. 


“These sands, these listless, helpless, 

        Sun-gold sands, I’ll play with these, 

Or crush them in my white-fanged hands

        For leagues, to please

The thing in me that is the Sea, 

        Intangible, untamed, 

        Untamed and wild, 

        And wild and weird and strong!”


This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on March 28, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.

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