this is the big thing i've been working on. the end result i had in mind was something similar to the nineteenth century epic poems, romantic and imaginative. you can tell me if i've succeeded in getting that feel. i havent finished it yet, but i feel good in posting it despite that, because it sort of falls into pieces naturally. this was a sort of introductory piece i am going to put at the beginning of the poem.

Ships of glass,
Incredibly fast,
Daring all the seas to blast
Their fragile frames, all made of glass
Which, for aeons, endure and last –
Ships of glass!
The proudest and fairest city does cast
Upon the seas of the world these ships of glass;
Sailing all the waters of the world ‘til, at last,
To the edge of the ocean come these ships of glass……
Then go forth again to where the winds might cast
These mighty, noble ships of glass –
Ships of glass!
So many, many, ships of glass,
Like a forest on the seas, so many their masts.
Still sailing the seas are ships of glass
Build six hundred years in the past.
All other ships by centuries they outlast,
Though only made, at last, of glass -
Of glass!
All these hundred daring ships of glass
Sailed as far as they could and then some past,
Through distant straights and channels have passed,
All these thousand ships of glass –
Ships of glass!
The city’s harbor, beautiful and vast,
And all in the city’s harbor massed,
All the million ships of glass,
Like a forest in the harbor, so many their masts,
So many the masts of the ships of glass,
Home at last, the ships of glass -
Ships of glass!

To every corner of the world are the ships of glass blown;
In every corner of the world is their city known.

Upon the seas both high and low,
The ships of glass boldly go.

None can imagine unseen the unearthly glow,
Of a mast of glass touched by the fire of Saint Elmo.

It is the dream of all the young men of the land,
To join that proud and joyous band,
That brave and far-adventuring band,
That dare go beyond the beaches of sand
To sail in the glassy ships – that forsake the land!
Such would make any land-bound life seem……..bland.
As life slips through fingers like grains of sand,
Would it be so much to risk death on a rock-littered strand?

To the city of glass ships the young men come en masse,
Eager to sail, careless of their homeland’s grass.
To the city of glass ships the young men come en masse,
Though few are enlisted on the ships of glass;
The number of men places on the ships surpass,
And few are enlisted on the ships of glass.

this is another part i've finished, about some of the treasures one of these ships of glass brought back. can you guess what the 'curious bear' is? and with all the mythological students on this site, everybody should be able to guess what i meant the 'wonder-tailed great-bird' to be! i dont particularly like the last two stanzas. i'll fix them later!



With a blade of steel, flashing bold,
(razor sharp and point so bold)
Jewel-encrusted hilt of gold,
(every color jewel on that hilt of gold)
Silver-inlaid; to the touch, cold,
(like death, that sword was so cold)
A fabulous scabbard, the blade to enfold,
(built of fabulous wood, that blade to enfold) - - -
Of an adventure to exotic lands this sword told,
For a lifetime’s fortune in the city square sold,
This but one piece of treasure in the hold
A mate of one of the ships of glass sold.

A hundred tiny statues of a stone they called jade
In some far eastern land with greatest care made;
Carved with who knows what strange steely blade;
A hundred little idols in a great chest displayed,
The chest itself a treasure, of rich wood and gold braid;
A hundred tiny statues of a stone they called jade.

Each of these figures but an inch in height,
The pale green stone reflected pale green light,
While the statue’s center was like a jungle night –
Dark and green!
A tiger, a tortoise, two dragons in a fight,
A curious bear cub to its mother clinging tight,
A wonder-tailed great-bird captured in flight,
A hideous demon of ugliness blight,
A horned horse, a serpent, all caused to excite
The folk in the city square to fright or delight,
As the tiny idols seemed to promise some heavenly insight;
A row of hundred tiny statues – a wondrous sight.

A hundred tiny statues of a stone they called jade;
A hundred sailors became rich when for the idols they were paid.

This same ship came bearing fifty tiger-beast’s skin,
And fifty more of its all-white-furred kin.
A hundred skins of the tiger-beast;
For a minor fortune sold the least.

Exotic perfumes that few noble ladies had smelled,
In gold-gilt bottles the like of which none had beheld.

Somewhere from the east these things came,
A land of great storms of wind and rain;

Only one forward compartment was filled with this treasure,
The total cargo was of value beyond measure.

Yet are any of these wondrous things,
Priceless rings and presents for kings,
As wondrous as a
ship
made of glass?

okay, i added to the last stanza in the last post (that i didnt like). i think its now alot better:


But of all of these glorious wondrous things,
Jewels and rings and presents for kings,
But of all these wonders, from the first to the last
Is any as wondrous as a ship made of glass?



i also came up with these few little tidbits, which will go in the intro part (first post), with the other couplets. the first stanza i actually came up with WHILE IN THE CHATROOM. i typed it out in the chatroom, to try it out on the few people in there.


Farthest sailing,
Never failing,
In all their bold endeavors prevailing!

The crew of the glass ships have eyes so keen
And have traveled so far - what have they not seen?

If you see upon the far horizon a glinting dot approaching fast,
Doubt you not that it's the tip of a mast of one of the ships of glass.



later in the poem i am going to introduce a first-person narrator. these parts will come after the bit about how young men flock to the city with all the glass ships, trying to get a position in one of their crews:


And I, like them, traveled to that glorious town,
Whose ships of glass have gained it world renown,
I swore to be by the land no longer bound,
In the morning to sail out of that proud city’s sound,
On a ship of glass, to far parts of the great world bound!

Glass is made of sand,
So I heard them say
As I bid farewell to the land
To sail out on the city’s bay.

It would be a travesty
to use the sand
of the land
for a ship of the sea.

Little do I doubt that all of this glass
Was made from the sand stretching out so vast
That all the crew can see through the glass-built hull;
It settles back down to the seafloor in the wave’s lull.

What a wonderful sense of adventure you've created! I love it...especially this part

If you see upon the far horizon a glinting dot approaching fast,
Doubt you not that it's the tip of a mast of one of the ships of glass.

I really like this stanza

With a blade of steel, flashing bold,
(razor sharp and point so bold)
Jewel-encrusted hilt of gold,
(every color jewel on that hilt of gold)
Silver-inlaid; to the touch, cold,
(like death, that sword was so cold)
A fabulous scabbard, the blade to enfold,
(built of fabulous wood, that blade to enfold) - - -
Of an adventure to exotic lands this sword told,
For a lifetime’s fortune in the city square sold,
This but one piece of treasure in the hold
A mate of one of the ships of glass sold.

Keep up the good work M&M (and it's good to see you posting your writing again)

-Dot

well, good, thats exactly what i was aiming for.
thats you, dot. gleaming!
today i went to a little medieval fair in lafayette, louisiana (USA), so i didnt have much time to write anymore. i did come up with just a few. i really like this stanza. it will go in the section about the treasures one of the glass ships brought back (second post):


A fabulous carven gilt-edged mirror,
Never a face in a looking-glass was shone clearer
To those who could not help but look a little closer - move a little nearer.
A fabulous carven gilt-edged mirror,
Never a face in a looking-glass was shone clearer
To those who looked in, in wonder and awe,
And, in vague unease, just as quickly withdraw.



i made a lot of revisions in the parts i had already written, but ive been slowing down in the past two days. i hope to be able to write a lot more tomorrow during class when i dont have to pay attention. these are a few tidbits i also thought up today, both of which will go in the introduction section (first post):


The crews of the glassy ships are sent throughout the endless ocean
Where ever the whimsical zephyr winds to send them have the notion.

Traversing all the great globe around;
To what far part of the world they are bound
To what distant country or what foreign sound
Or perhaps, to what dead sailor’s lair
they never know, or hardly care.


thats definitely the first time i've ever used the word 'zephyr'.

well, today i actually was able to add a fair amount of new stuff to this poem, but not as much as i had hoped.
i was particularly pleased wtih these three stanzas, fist because they are different from most of the other stanzas, and second because they introduce the narrator much earlier in the poem than i had planned, to get the reader used to a character telling the story first-person. these will be the first stanzas in the section about the treasures (second post):



Once there came to my own fine city one of the ships of glass.
Until it was docked,
No one knew it was there,
It sailed into the harbor so fast.

No one but me; as I lay on the beach gazing at clouds in the sky,
I saw the sparkling ship of glass,
The ocean so blue and the ship so fast
The water looked like sky over which the ship could fly.

My home city itself was proud and fair,
But not half so much
as the city in which
the glass ships had their lair.



this stanza in the treasure section, too:



Opulent silk of the most delicate type
Of every color and every stripe.
It was the first silk that had ever been seen in the land;
With kings and queens it fell into the highest demand.


these stanzas will go towards the end of the third post:



Then I fancied that from broken window panes
Are formed these ships sailing the ocean’s lanes;
And mayhap from tattered curtain tails
Are made the glass ships’ stately sails.
To use discarded curtains for the sails (which do the masts enshroud)
To think, of shattered window glass, to build a ship so proud!

Glass is made of sand,
So I heard them say
As I bid farewell to the land
To sail out on the city’s bay.

Perhaps from the glass of a lightening bolt,
Sand turned to glass by Jupiter’s jolt.

But no, it would be a travesty
to use the
...........
and so on.



let me give you an idea of the way i'm working here: i get one line written down more or less how i want it. then, i think of as many words that rhyme with the last word of the line as i can (for the last few days, as my creative production has started to slack off, ive been using a free online rhyming dictionary for that purpose). i find its easier if the last word of a line is either one-syllable, or the last syllable is stressed. its easiest if you dont have a very clear idea of what the stanza will be about, just the first line; that way, youre more free to alter the sentence structure to force the rhyming word to come last in the line. truly making it up as i go.
i wrote some more things that need more revision, and im going to try to come up with more this evening. this is the first big poetry project ive ever done, and im discovering that i think up almost all of it in the first hour of the day.

..........this is starting to sound like a blog.


EDIT: just came up with this little gem. 75mcherch helped me pick some of the right words in the first stanza. thanks, man. this will go at the end of the introductory peice (first paragraph):




All the ships of glass were built only in that fair city on the bay;
All other nations efforts ended in dismay.

Though others tried, they tried in vain;
Their glass ships sunk again and again.
And never could they ascertain
Never the mystery could they explain
How a ship made of glass could sail the main.

All ships not built there must of materials be mundane.




also, i revised Dot's stanza:



If you see glinting dot upon the horizon vast,
Doubt you not that it’s the tip of a mast
Of one of the noble ships of glass.

I am really enjoying this whole peice, however, I especially like

A fabulous carven gilt-edged mirror,
Never a face in a looking-glass was shone clearer
To those who could not help but look a little closer - move a little nearer.
A fabulous carven gilt-edged mirror,
Never a face in a looking-glass was shone clearer
To those who looked in, in wonder and awe,
And, in vague unease, just as quickly withdraw


lol...and I love the revision to my stanza

my computer has been down for a long while, but ive been so busy ive hardly been able to write anymore. i did come up with a few stanzas, however. thesw ill go in the treasure section:


A ship of glass,
The word spread fast,
In our city’s harbor was a ship of glass!
Surely, the glass ship’s far-traveling band,
Has brought with them treasures from some distant land.

People stared at the ship and tried to guess, if they could
How a ship could be made to float without any wood.

If into its glittering glass anyone stopped to gaze,
A thousand tiny rainbows could be seen within its pearly glaze;
And with the refracted sunlight was the skin of their face bathed.

Looking up, they saw against the background of the sky
The lofty masts of glass rising up so incredibly high.

And all the folk of the city who were about the glass ship told
Gathered in the marketplace to see what would be sold.



Exotic perfumes that few noble ladies had smelled,
In gold-gilt bottles the like of which none had beheld.
Heavily scented oils,
Of their wanderlust the spoils.

But these were only the riches in one room in the hold;
During that evening more treasure than could be counted was sold.



these will go later. the first stanza is one of my favorites:



Sometimes I fancy the sea is a blue-green sheet of glass,
Like that in chapel windows used.
The waves merely the seam on that window so vast,
Where the panes of glass are fused.

They say the sea reflects the sky
But I know that to be a lie;
For how else could it be
Other than that the sky reflects the sea?

The clouds refract the light of the sun around their prism edges;
Much the same as the ships of glass, about which are told legends.

I fancy that the sky itself is but a glassy dome,
The clouds but a reflection of the wave-formed sea-foam;
The sky only half of a glass globe such as wizards used.
On the distant horizon are the sea and the sky fused.



that last staza is a little off, i think. i'm going to see if i can make it right. when things settle down i plan on writing more of it (i would say i'm about three-fourths finished) AND i'm currently adapting the first long introdcution stanzas to be played on my banjo. you know, because a banjo is absolutely the perfect instrument for a fantasy poem about ships.

well, it's finished. at last. in microsoft word, it weighs in at exactly six pages. i originally wanted to get into more depth towards the end, but by creative well ran dry. so i did some finally tinkering with it and said to my self, "leave it alone".

let me say a little about my influences here. i got the idea from listening to the Jefferson Airplane song, 'wooden ships' which has nothing to do with my poem except the title. i thought to myself that a REALLY psychedelic song would be called something like, 'glass ships' since all ships used to be made of wood. i sort of siezed on the image of a glass ship, in which you could see the fish and waves. yes, of course submersibles have windows, but i was imagining a SAILING ship made of glass - not only a sailing ship, a huge ancient tall-ship (such as pirates would sail in).
the other influence was (ironically) also a psychedelic rock song , 'Tales of Brace Ulysses' by Cream. it doesnt have alot to do with my poem either, mainly the feeling and the imagery is what i was trying for.
as i said before, i was aiming for a feeling similar to nineteenth-century fiction: highly romantic, imaginative, rich with imagery, and with what i call a Maud Mueller ending. i think i succeeded, rather better than i had expected. the works i wanted to imitate included 'Childe Rowland to the Dark Tower Came' by Robert Browing, Romance by Lord Dunsany, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, and Phantastes by George MacDonald.

this is starting to sound like an academy awards speech.

anyway, now that i have the credits out of the way i can post the entire poem, finished.

Ships of glass,
Incredibly fast,
Daring all the seas to blast
Their fragile frames, all made of glass;
Which, for aeons, endure and last –
Ships of glass!
The proudest and fairest city does cast
Upon the seas of the world these ships of glass;
Sailing all the waters of the world ‘til, at last,
To the edge of the ocean come these ships of glass……
Then go forth again to where the winds might cast
These mighty, noble ships of glass –
Ships of glass!
So many, many, ships of glass,
Like a forest on the seas, so many their masts.
Still sailing the seas are ships of glass
Build six hundred years in the past.
All other ships by centuries they outlast,
Though only made, at last, of glass -
Of glass!
All these hundred daring ships of glass
Sail as far as they can and then some past,
Through distant straights and channels have passed,
All these thousand ships of glass –
Ships of glass!
The city’s harbor, beautiful and vast,
And all in the city’s harbor massed,
All the million ships of glass,
Like a forest in the harbor, so many their masts,
So many the masts of the ships of glass,
Home at last, the ships of glass -
Ships of glass!
All other ships they have surpassed,
These splendid, radiant ships of glass.
If you see a glinting dot upon the horizon vast,
Doubt you not that it’s the tip of a mast
Of one of the noble ships of glass -
Ships of glass!

To every corner of the world are the ships of glass blown;
In every corner of the world is their fair city known.

Upon the seas both high and low,
The ships of glass do boldly go.

Traversing all the great globe around;
To what far part of the world they are bound
To what distant country or what foreign sound
Or perhaps, to what dead sailor’s lair
They do not know, or hardly care.

Farthest sailing,
Never failing,
In all their bold endeavors prevailing.

The crews of the glassy ships are sent throughout the endless ocean
Where ever the whimsical zephyr winds to send them have the notion.

The crew of the glass ships have eyes so keen
And have traveled so far – what have they not seen?

Looking through a hull of glass, what could not be seen?
Every color and kind of fish, with which the oceans teem.

None can imagine unseen the unearthly glow,
Of a mast of glass touched by the fire of Saint Elmo.

All the ships of glass were built only in that fair city on the bay;
All other nation’s efforts only ended in dismay.

Though others tried, they tried in vain;
Their glass ships sunk again and again.
And never could they ascertain
Never the mystery could they explain –
How a ship made of glass could sail the main.

All ships not built there must of materials be mundane.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


Once there came to my own fine city one of the ships of glass.
Until it was docked,
No one knew it was there,
It sailed into the harbor so fast.

No one but me; as I lay on the beach gazing at clouds in the sky,
I saw the sparkling ship of glass,
The ocean so blue and the ship so fast
The water looked like sky over which the ship could fly.

My home city itself was proud and fair,
But not half so much
As the city in which
The glass ships had their lair.

A ship of glass,
The word spread fast,
In our city’s harbor was a ship of glass!
Surely, the glass ship’s far-traveling band,
Has brought with them treasures from some distant land.

People stared at the ship and tried to guess, if they could
How a ship could be made to float without any wood.

If into its glittering glass anyone stopped to gaze,
A thousand tiny rainbows could be seen within its pearly glaze;
And with the refracted sunlight was the skin of their face bathed.

Looking up, they saw against the background of the sky
The lofty masts of glass towering so incredibly high.

All the folk of the city who of the ship’s arrival had been told,
Gathered in the marketplace to see what would be sold.

A hundred tiny statues of a stone they called jade
In some far eastern land with greatest care made;
Carved with who knows what strange steely blade;
A hundred little idols in a great chest displayed,
The chest itself a treasure, of rich wood and gold braid;
A hundred tiny statues of a stone they called jade.
Each of these figures but an inch in height,
The pale green stone reflected pale green light,
While the statue’s center was like a jungle night –
Green and dark!
A tiger, a tortoise, two dragons in a fight,
A curious bear cub to its mother clinging tight,
A wonder-tailed great-bird captured in flight,
A hideous demon of ugliness blight,
A horned horse, a serpent, all caused to excite
The folk in the city square to fright or delight,
As the tiny idols seemed to promise some divine insight;
A row of hundred tiny statues – a wondrous sight.
A hundred tiny statues of a stone they called jade;
A hundred sailors became rich when for the idols they were paid.

With a blade of steel, flashing bold,
(razor sharp and point so bold)
Jewel-encrusted hilt of gold,
(every color jewel on that hilt of gold)
Silver-inlaid; to the touch, cold,
(like a newly dead corpse, was this sword cold)
A fabulous scabbard, the blade to enfold,
(built of fabulous wood, that blade to enfold) - - -
Of an adventure to exotic lands this sword told,
For a lifetime’s fortune in the city square sold,
This but one piece of treasure in the hold
A mate of one of the ships of glass sold.

A fabulous carven gilt-edged mirror,
Never a face in a looking-glass was shone clearer
To those who could not help but look a little closer - move a little nearer.
A fabulous carven gilt-edged mirror,
Never a face in a looking-glass was shone clearer
To those who looked in, in wonder and awe,
And, in vague unease, just as quickly withdraw.

This same ship came bearing fifty tiger-beast’s skin,
And fifty more of its all-white-furred kin.
A hundred skins of the tiger-beast;
For a minor fortune sold the least.

Opulent silk of the most delicate type
Of every color and every stripe.
It was the first silk that had ever been seen in the land;
With kings and queens it fell into the highest demand.

Exotic perfumes that few noble ladies had smelled,
In gold-gilt bottles the like of which none had beheld.
Heavily scented oils,
Of their wanderlust the spoils.

But these were only the riches in one room in the hold;
During that evening more treasure than could be counted was sold.

Somewhere from the east these things came,
A land of great storms of wind and rain.

But of all of these glorious wondrous things,
Jewels and rings and presents for kings,
But of all these wonders, from the first to the last,
Is any as wondrous as a ship made of glass?


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


Sometimes I fancy the sea is a blue-green sheet of glass,
Like that in chapel windows used.
The waves merely the seam on that window so vast,
Where the panes of glass are fused.

I fancy that the sky itself is but a glassy dome,
The clouds but a reflection of the wave-formed sea-foam;
The sky only half of a glassy globe such as wizards used.
On the distant horizon are the sea and sky fused.

They say the sea reflects the sky
But I know that to be a lie;
For, how else could it be
Other than that the sky reflects the sea?

The clouds refract the light of the sun around their prism edges;
Much the same as the ships of glass, about which are told legends.

It makes me laugh, such a thought to entertain;
Sometimes I fancy that from broken window panes
Are formed these great ships sailing the ocean’s lanes;
And mayhap from tattered curtain tails
Are made the glass ships’ stately sails.
To use discarded curtains for the sails (which do the masts enshroud)
To think, of shattered window glass, to build a ship so proud!

Glass is made of sand,
So long ago I heard them say
As the glass ship bid farewell to the land
To sail out of our city’s bay.

Perhaps from the glass of a lightening bolt,
Sand turned to glass by Jupiter’s jolt -

But no, it would be a travesty
To use the sand of the land
For a ship of the sea.

But little do I doubt that all of that glass
Was made from the sand stretching out so vast
That all the crew can see through the glass-built hull;
It settles back down to the seafloor in the passed wave’s lull.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


It is the dream of all the young men of the land,
To join that proud and joyous band,
That brave and far-adventuring band,
That dare go beyond the beaches of sand
To sail in the glassy ships – that forsake the land!
Such would make any land-bound life seem……..bland.
As life slips through fingers like grains of sand,
Would it be so much to risk death on a rock-littered strand?

To the city of glass ships the young men come en masse,
Eager to sail, careless of their homeland’s soil and grass.
To the city of glass ships the young men come en masse,
Though few are enlisted on the ships of glass;
Places on the ships the number of young men surpass,
And only a few are enlisted on the ships of glass.

Nothing would I love more than to travel to that glorious town,
Whose wondrous ships of glass have gained it world renown,
To swear to be by the land no longer bound,
In the morning to sail out of that proud city’s sound,
On a ship of glass, to far parts of the great world bound!

To dare to go beyond the beaches of sand
To sail in the glassy ships – that forsake the land!
Such would make any land-bound life seem……..bland.




As life slips through fingers like grains of sand,
Would it be so much to risk death on a rock-littered strand?




As life slips through fingers like grains of sand……....



.

beautiful !!! ♥
caught myself anticipating next lines
i love way you write

wait wait wait, friends, its not over yet. remember this:
well, i just couldnt leave it alone. so, a mere seven months later, i finished it, and finally got my maud mueller ending. in the final final version, ive taken out the last six lines and replaced them with the following:




fortune and fate have these dreams blast;
I’ll never sail on a ship of glass.

Never in life shall I see those glorious sights
Never spend on a glass ship any of my nights.

Now when young men speak of me as a sage
I want to tell them the true way of old age –
To want nothing more now than I wanted then.
Is to cling to old dreams such a great sin?
No, for any of them might have been.

‘twas not my fortune, ‘twas not my fate –
And now, in my old age, ‘tis too late.

But would it have been too much to ask of life
For all the toil, trouble and strife
To be granted a berth on one noble glass ship,
To take from the cup of contentment one tiny sip?
Ah, but that drink was never to wet my lip.

Now, in my old age, ‘tis too long and too late.
‘twas not my fortune, ‘twas not my fate.
To sail on a noble ship of glass –
Fortune and fate have these dreams blast.
But the ships of glass will endure and last.

~finis~