Poem by Arlo Bates

A Shadow Boat

Under my keel another boat
Sails as I sail, floats as I float;
    Silent and dim and mystic still,
It steals through that weird nether-world,
    Mocking my power, though at my will
The foam before its prow is curled,
Or calm it lies, with canvas furled.

Vainly I peer and fain would see
What phantom in that boat may be;
    Yet half I dread, lest I with ruth
Some ghost of my dead, past divine,
    Some gracious shape of my lost youth,
Whose deathless eyes once fixed on mine
Would draw me downward through the brine!

1. On the Road to Chorrera
2. Before the Dawn
3. The Cyclamen
4. Metempsychosis
5. When Allah Spoke

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