The poem I post today, "64. George Gray," was one I first heard in English in eighth grade. The poem stuck with me and several years later I found the book the poem had been pulled from. The poem still strikes me powerfully. I hope you like it.
Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950). Spoon River Anthology. 1916.
64. George Gray
I HAVE studied many times | |
The marble which was chiseled for me— | |
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor. | |
In truth it pictures not my destination | |
But my life. | 5 |
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment; | |
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid; | |
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances. | |
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life. | |
And now I know that we must lift the sail | 10 |
And catch the winds of destiny | |
Wherever they drive the boat. | |
To put meaning in one’s life may end in madness, | |
But life without meaning is the torture | |
Of restlessness and vague desire— | 15 |
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid. |
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