The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

A ship, an isle, a sickle moon—
With few but with how splendid stars
The mirrors of the sea are strewn
Between their silver bars!
‘The Golden Journey to Samarkand’ (1913) ‘A Ship, an Isle, and a Sickle Moon’
Noon strikes on England, noon on Oxford town,
Beauty she was statue cold—there’s blood upon her gown.
‘The Golden Journey to Samarkand’ (1913) ‘The Dying Patriot’
West of these out to seas colder than the Hebrides
I must go
Where the fleet of stars is anchored and the young
Star captains glow.
‘The Golden Journey to Samarkand’ (1913) ‘The Dying Patriot’
I have seen old ships sail like swans asleep
Beyond the village which men still call Tyre,
With leaden age o’ercargoed, dipping deep
For Famagusta and the hidden sun
That rings black Cyprus with a lake of fire.
‘Old Ships’ (1915)
It was so old a ship—who knows, who knows?
—And yet so beautiful, I watched in vain
To see the mast burst open with a rose,
And the whole deck put on its leaves again.
‘Old Ships’ (1915)
O friend unseen, unborn, unknown,
Student of our sweet English tongue,
Read out my words at night, alone:
I was a poet, I was young.
‘To a Poet a Thousand Years Hence’ (1910)
6.40 Richard Flecknoe d. c.1678
Still-born Silence! thou that art
Floodgate of the deeper heart.
‘Miscellania’ (1653)
6.41 Ian Fleming 1908-64
A medium Vodka dry Martini—with a slice of lemon peel. Shaken and not stirred.
‘Dr No’ (1958) ch. 14
6.42 Marjory Fleming 1803-11