Waves Aflame

The western wave was all aflame. The day was well nigh done! Almost upon the western wave Rested the broad bright Sun; -Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, 1798

Farewell to Earthly Bliss

Adieu, farewell earth's bliss; This world uncertain is; -Thomas Nashe (1567-1601), Adieu, Farewell, Earth's Bliss, from Summer's Last Will and Testament

Fading Pleasure

Grow rich in that which never taketh rust:     Whatever fades but fading pleasure brings. -Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), Leave Me, O Love, Which Reachest But to Dust

Day's End

And now the sun had stretch'd out all the hills, And now was dropp'd into the western bay; At last he rose, and twitch'd his mantle blue, Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new. -John Milton, Lycidas, 1637

Sign

God gave Noah the rainbow sign. No more water, the fire next time! -Anonymous, Negro spiritual

Peek

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Familiar Colors

Have I been gazing on the western sky,     And its peculiar tint of yellow green: -Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), Dejection: An Ode

Burden

For forty days and forty nights     He wade thro red blude to the knee, And he saw neither sun nor moon,     But heard the roaring of the sea. -Anonymous (c.1400-c.1600), Thomas the Rhymer

Vanishing Moment

O how feeble is man's power,     That, if good fortune fall, Cannot add another hour     Nor a lost hour recall! -John Donne (1572-1631), Sweetest Love, I do Not Go