“Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?”

— Jack Kerouac , book On the Road

Part Two, Ch. 3
On the Road (1957)

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Jack Kerouac 266

American writer 1922–1969

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“Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear,
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John Keble (1792–1866) English churchman and poet, a leader of the Oxford Movement

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“Thou dirge
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St. II
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“Star of descending night! fair is thy light in the west! thou liftest thy unshorn head from thy cloud: thy steps are stately on thy hill. What dost thou behold in the plain? The stormy winds are laid. The murmur of the torrent comes from afar. Roaring waves climb the distant rock. The flies of evening are on their feeble wings; the hum of their course is on the field. What dost thou behold, fair light? But thou dost smile and depart. The waves come with joy around thee: they bathe thy lovely hair. Farewell, thou silent beam! Let the light of Ossian's soul arise!”

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“Thou whose deep ways are in the sea,
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Alfred Noyes (1880–1958) English poet

Dedication, later published as " A Prayer in Time of War http://www.poetseers.org/poets/alfred_noyes/a_prayer_in_time_of_war/"
A Belgian Christmas Eve (1915)
Context: p>Thou whose deep ways are in the sea,
Whose footsteps are not known,
To-night a world that turned from Thee
Is waiting — at Thy Throne.The towering Babels that we raised
Where scoffing sophists brawl,
The little Antichrists we praised —
The night is on them all.</p

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Context: Sweet swan of Avon! what a sight it were
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Taliesin (534–599) Welsh bard

Book of Taliesin (c. 1275?), The First Address of Taliesin

“Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?”

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Jack Kerouac 266

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