Gustave Doré (1832-1883), Illustration from, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"   The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

PART I

An ancient Mariner meeteth three Gallants bidden to a wedding-feast, and detaineth one.

It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
`By thy long beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?

 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

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The Fool Aground

I'll try to go my toilsome way,
With rudder deep in sand,
But how's the vehicle made for sea
To move upon the land?

The rocks in sand scrape paint away
From off the weathered hull,
As high atop the wind comes on
To parse the streaming lull.

And in this sorry state I go,
Though madness come with tide, I know,
Long years ago my course was set,
My boat has found no ocean yet.

So here am I, the fool aground,
With soil unyielding all around.
Know this!  My dream is of the sea
Whose powers only set me free.

Though when will come the freedom day
When all my cares are swept away
Or sink at last beneath the sea,
Whose waves shall bear both boat and me?

© by Gerald Keith 2004

Our newest contributor to SONNETTO POESIA, Gerry P. Keith, is a researcher in the field of neuroscience at York University in Toronto. He has been writing in his spare time for a number of years. His published material includes a chapter of a biography of Sir Daniel Wilson (Thinking with both hands, Ash and Hulse Eds.), a 19th. Century president of the University of Toronto, several historical articles in Toronto periodicals, and a number of stories in both Canadian and American periodicals. This is the first time his poetry has been published.