Sea-Heroes by H. D.

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend December 11, 2016   Sea-Heroes   H. D.

Crash on crash of the sea, straining to wreck men; sea-boards, continents, raging against the world, furious, stay at last, for against your fury and your mad fight, the line of heroes stands, godlike:   Akroneos, Oknolos, Elatreus, helm-of-boat, loosener-of-helm, dweller-by-sea, Nauteus, sea-man, Prumneos, stern-of-ship, Agchialos, sea-girt, Elatreus, oar-shaft: lover-of-the-sea, lover-of-the-sea-ebb, lover-of-the-swift-sea, Ponteus, Proreus, Oöos: Anabesneos, who breaks to anger as a wave to froth: Amphiolos, one caught between wave-shock and wave-shock: Eurualos, broad sea-wrack, like Ares, man's death, and Naubolidos, best in shape, of all first in size: Phaekous, sea's thunderbolt— ah, crash on crash of great names— man-tamer, man's-help, perfect Laodamos: and last the songs of great Alkinöos, Laodamos, Halios, and god-like Clytomeos.   Of all nations, of all cities, of all continents, she is favoured above the rest, for she gives men as great as the sea, to battle against the elements and evil: greater even than the sea, they live beyond wrack and death of cities, and each god-like name spoken is as a shrine in a godless place.   But to name you, we, reverent, are breathless, weak with pain and old loss, and exile and despair— our hearts break but to speak your name, Oknaleos— and may we but call you in the feverish wrack of our storm-strewn beach, Eretmeos, our hurt is quiet and our hearts tamed, as the sea may yet be tamed, and we vow to float great ships, named for each hero, and oar-blades, cut of mountain-trees as such men might have shaped: Eretmeos, and the sea is swept, baffled by the lordly shape, Akroneos has pines for his ship's keel; to love, to mate the sea? Ah there is Ponteos, the very deeps roar, hailing you dear— they clamour to Ponteos, and to Proëos leap, swift to kiss, to curl, to creep, lover to mistress.   What wave, what love, what foam, For Oöos who moves swift as the sea? Ah stay, my heart, the weight of lovers, of loneliness drowns me, alas that their very names so press to break my heart with heart-sick weariness, what would they be, the very gods, rearing their mighty length beside the unharvested sea?            This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   "Sea-Heroes" was first published in Coterie, Number 4, in April 1920.   Hilda Doolittle was born on September 10, 1886, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Her collections of poetry include Red Roses for Bronze (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1931) and Helen in Egypt (New Directions, 1961). She died in 1961.   Photo credit: Perdita Schaffner/New Directions Poetry by H. D.   Hermetic Definition (New Directions Publishing, 1972)  "Love Songs (section III)" by Mina Loy "North Wind" by Lola Ridge "Pastoral" by William Carlos Williams Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038