The Poetry Corner

Songs of the Fleet - The Middle Watch

By Henry John Newbolt, Sir

In a blue dusk the ship astern Uplifts her slender spars, With golden lights that seem to burn Among the silver stars. Like fleets along a cloudy shore The constellations creep, Like planets on the ocean floor Our silent course we keep. And over the endless plain, Out of the night forlorn Rises a faint refrain, A song of the day to be born-- Watch, oh watch till ye find again Life and the land of morn. From a dim West to a dark East Our lines unwavering head, As if their motion long had ceased And Time itself were dead. Vainly we watch the deep below, Vainly the void above, They died a thousand years ago-- Life and the land we love. But over the endless plain, Out of the night forlorn Rises a faint refrain, A song of the day to be born-- Watch, oh watch till ye find again Life and the land of morn.