Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE INVALID, by VIRGINIA FOLEY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE INVALID, by                    
First Line: Old ships are tired sailing into port
Last Line: I dream the vagabondage they have known!
Subject(s): Boats; Freedom; Japan; Sailing & Sailors; Ships & Shipping; Sicily; Liberty; Japanese; Seamen; Sails


Old ships are tired sailing into port --
Dim, white-winged galleons weighted down with wares
From lands away off there. Adventuring
In strange sea-ways enshadows them. Who cares
That they are gale-torn by the sweep of years
When they have seen gold dawns in Sicily --
In far Japan young, cherry-blossomed dusks
Agleam on waves of lapis lazuli?
I have on me the weariness of ships
Long journeyed although I have never gone
Beyond these four walls where my fingertips
Might love old things of mine about the room.
Yet I am like home-coming ships wind-blown --
I dream the vagabondage they have known!





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