Poem by Vachel Lindsay

The Empty Boats

Why do I see these empty boats, sailing on airy seas? 
One haunted me the whole night long, swaying with every breeze, 
Returning always near the eaves, or by the skylight glass: 
There it will wait me many weeks, and then, at last, will pass. 
Each soul is haunted by a ship in which that soul might ride 
And climb the glorious mysteries of Heaven’s silent tide 
In voyages that change the very metes and bounds of Fate — 
O empty boats, we all refuse, that by our windows wait!

1. What the Miner in the Desert Said
2. The King of Yellow Butterflies
3. A Prayer to All the Dead among Mine Own People
4. Michaelangelo
5. Sweet Briars of the Stairways

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