Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WANDERER, by ANNA BUNSTON DE BARY



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WANDERER, by                    
First Line: My heart is homeless as the wind
Last Line: Hope's golden chariot wheels.
Subject(s): Wandering & Wanderers; Wanderlust; Vagabonds; Tramps; Hoboes


MY heart is homeless as the wind,
And dark as northern waters are,
More desolate than midnight pools
That never held a star.

But like the uncompanioned sun
That goeth forth from east to west,
Or mourning, solitary moon
Arising from her rest,

To climb the steepest hills of cloud
Or sink upon an inland sea,
Beyond the ramparts of the world
I wander, lone and free.

I've heard the cry of dead men's bones
That clamour at the gates of morn,
And whimpering of naked souls
Impatient to be born,

I know the dark and loathsome caves
Of crouching Fear and writhing Shame;
And dreadful, oozy, songless swamps
The words of sunken Fame.

I've seen the shining galaxy
Of mute, unrecogniséd worth,
Apparent failures bursting through
The envelope of earth.

I know the salt and bitter strand,
The terrible No More's demesne,
Lit by the cold, auroral flame
Of things that might have been.

And in the silent polar night,
With ear upon the icy ground,
Behind the footsteps of Despair
I've caught another sound,

Diffused as scent made audible,
And faint as far-off foreign peals,
The tread of final Destiny,
Hope's golden chariot wheels.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net