I. A song of a boat: -- There was once a boat on a billow: Lightly she rocked to her port remote, And the foam was white in her wake like snow, And her frail mast bowed when the breeze would blow, And bent like a wand of willow. II. I shaded mine eyes one day when a boat Went courtsying over the billow, I marked her course till a dancing mote She faded out on the moonlit foam, And I stayed behind in the dear loved home; And my thoughts all day were about the boat And my dreams upon the pillow. III. I pray you hear my song of a boat, For it is but short: -- My boat, you shall find none fairer afloat, In river or port, Long I looked out for the lad she bore, On the open desolate sea, And I think he sailed to the heavenly shore, For he came not back to me -- Ah me! IV. A song of a nest: -- There was once a nest in a hollow: Down in the mosses and knot-grass pressed, Soft and warm, and full to the brim -- Vetches leaned over it purple and dim, With buttercup buds to follow. V. I pray you hear my song of a nest, For it is not long: -- You shall never light, in a summer quest The bushes among -- Shall never light on a prouder sitter, A fairer nestful, nor ever know A softer sound than their tender twitter, That wind-like did come and go. VI. I had a nestful once of my own, Ah, happy, happy I! Right dearly I loved them: but when they were grown They spread out their wings to fly -- O, one after one they flew away Far up to the heavenly blue, To the better country, the upper day, And -- I wish I was going too. VII. I pray you, what is the nest to me, My empty nest? And what is the shore where I stood to see My boat sail down to the west? Can I call that home where I anchor yet, Though my good man has sailed? Can I call that home where my nest was set, Now all its hope hath failed? Nay, but the port where my sailor went, And the land where my nestlings be: There is the home where my thoughts are sent, The only home for me -- Ah me! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LE MEDECIN MALGRE LUI by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS THE PLANTING OF THE APPLE TREE by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT NEVER TOO LATE: THE PALMER'S ODE by ROBERT GREENE AFTER THE PLEASURE PARTY by HERMAN MELVILLE WINTER, FR. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE EPIGRAM: 31. LOVE'S CAPRICIOUSNESS by CALLIMACHUS |