E-Text

Emily Dickinson's Collected Poems

Part Four: Time and Eternity 129. Adrift! A little boat adrift!

Adrift! A little boat adrift!

And night is coming down!

Will no one guide a little boat

Unto the nearest town?


So sailors say, on yesterday,

Just as the dusk was brown,

One little boat gave up its strife,

And gurgled down and down.


But angels say, on yesterday,

Just as the dawn was red,

One little boat o'erspent with gales

Retrimmed its masts, redecked its sails

Exultant, onward sped!