by Philip Bourke Marston (1850 - 1887)
Foredoomed
Language: English
No star upon thy course sheds any ray ; Though thy bark bear for years the wind and foam, To no sweet haven shall it ever come. The night shall see thee drifting, and the day Behold thee as the night ; thou shalt not pray, Nor utter any cry, but, cold and dumb, Watch the waves pass ; and glad ships sailing home Shall hail thee not upon thy trackless way. I'he salt wave shall taste bitter to thy lip : Weary, yea, unto death, thy soul shall be Of winds, and the interminable sea. That does not bring thee nearer any goal, But sweeps through changeless gloom the fated ship To its remote, inevitable shoal.
Confirmed with Philip Bourke Marston, The collected poems of Philip Bourke Marston, Boston : Roberts, 1892, p.122
Text Authorship:
- by Philip Bourke Marston (1850 - 1887), "Foredoomed" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Morfydd Llwyn Owen (1891 - 1918), "Foredoomed", 1913 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2025-07-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 113