Back to Index

Waiting

by Carl Sandburg, 1916

Today I will let the old boat stand
 Where the sweep of the harbor tide comes in
 To the pulse of a far, deep-steady sway.
 And I will rest and dream and sit on the deck
     Watching the world go by
 And take my pay for many hard days gone I remember.

 I will choose what clouds I like
 In the great white fleets that wander the blue
 As I lie on my back or loaf at the rail.
 And I will listen as the veering winds kiss me and fold me
 And put on my brow the touch of the world’s great will.

 Daybreak will hear the heart of the boat beat,
   Engine throb and piston play
 In the quiver and leap at call of life.
 To-morrow we move in the gaps and heights
 On changing floors of unlevel seas
 And no man shall stop us and no man follow
 For ours is the quest of an unknown shore
 And we are husky and lusty and shouting-gay.

Published in Chicago Poems
Tags:

Any corrections or public domain poems I should have here? Email me at poems (at) this domain.