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Where lies the land to which the ship would go

By Arthur Hugh Clough

Topics: classic

Where lies the land to which the ship would go?     Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know.     And where the land she travels from? Away,     Far, far behind, is all that they can say.     On sunny noons upon the decks smooth face,     Linked arm in arm, how pleasant here to pace;     Or, oer the stern reclining, watch below     The foaming wake far widening as we go.     On stormy nights when wild north-westers rave,     How proud a thing to fight with wind and wave!     The dripping sailor on the reeling mast     Exults to bear, and scorns to wish it past.     Where lies the land to which the ship would go?     Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know.     And where the land she travels from? Away,     Far, far behind, is all that they can say.

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"Where lies the land to which the ship would go?..."

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Author:Arthur Hugh Clough

"Where lies the land to which the ship would go?..." by Arthur Hugh Clough

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Arthur Hugh Clough

About Arthur Hugh Clough

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861) was an English poet whose work explores Victorian doubt and moral uncertainty. His poems "Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth" and "The Latest Decalogue" are sharp, thoughtful, and still widely anthologized.

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"Cease, empty Faith, the Spectrum saith,     I was,..."

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