This poem speaks for itself - for the experience and
all the emotions of wonder, frustration, anger, and simultaneous disappointment
and hope.
Ships
That Pass in the Night
By: Paul
Laurence Dunbar
Out in the sky the great dark clouds are
massing;
I look far out into the pregnant night,
Where
I can hear a solemn booming gun
And catch the gleaming of a random light,
That
tells me that the ship I seek is passing, passing.
My
tearful eyes my soul’s deep hurt are glassing;
For I would hail and check that ship of
ships.
I
stretch my hands imploring, cry aloud,
My
voice falls dead a foot from mine own lips,
And
but its ghost doth reach that vessel, passing, passing.
O
Earth, O Sky, O Ocean, both surpassing,
O heart of mine, O soul that dreads the
dark!
Is
there no hope for me? Is there no way
That I may sight and check that speeding
bark
Which
out of sight and sound is passing, passing?
