English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 631. Break, Break, Break |
| | | Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
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| BREAK, break, break, | |
| On thy cold grey stones, O Sea! | |
| And I would that my tongue could utter | |
| The thoughts that arise in me. | |
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| O well for the fisherman’s boy, | 5 |
| That he shouts with his sister at play! | |
| O well for the sailor lad, | |
| That he sings in his boat on the bay! | |
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| And the stately ships go on | |
| To their haven under the hill; | 10 |
| But O for the touch of a vanished hand, | |
| And the sound of a voice that is still! | |
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| Break, break, break, | |
| At the foot of thy crags, O Sea! | |
| But the tender grace of a day that is dead | 15 |
| Will never come back to me. | |
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