SUNDAY POETRY: "AT MELVILLE'S TOMB"

Sperm Whale Encounter from Howard Hall on Vimeo.

AT MELVILLE'S TOMB

by Hart Crane 

Often beneath the wave, wide from this ledge

The dice of drowned men’s bones he saw bequeath

An embassy. Their numbers as he watched,

Beat on the dusty shore and were obscured.

And wrecks passed without sound of bells,

The calyx of death’s bounty giving back

A scattered chapter, livid hieroglyph,

The portent wound in corridors of shells.

Then in the circuit calm of one vast coil,

Its lashings charmed and malice reconciled,

Frosted eyes there were that lifted altars;

And silent answers crept across the stars.

Compass, quadrant and sextant contrive

No farther tides ... High in the azure steeps

Monody shall not wake the mariner.

This fabulous shadow only the sea keeps.

*Thanks to my friends Howard and Michele Hall for sharing their amazing sperm whale video on Vimeo.