The damned ship lurched and slithered. Quiet and quick My cold gorge rose; the long sea rolled; I knew I must think hard of something, or be sick; And could think hard of only one thing -- YOU! You, you alone could hold my fancy ever! And with you memories come, sharp pain, and dole. Now there's a choice -- heartache or tortured liver! A sea-sick body, or a you-sick soul! Do I forget you? Retchings twist and tie me, Old meat, good meals, brown gobbets, up I throw. Do I remember? Acrid return and slimy, The sobs and slobber of a last years woe. And still the sick ship rolls. 'Tis hard, I tell ye, To choose 'twixt love and nausea, heart and belly. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...KEEP A-PLUGGING AWAY by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR HAARLEM HEIGHTS by ARTHUR GUITERMAN THE LAMP OF HERO by LOUISE VICTORINE ACKERMANN SONG OF THE SPANISH JEWS by GRACE AGUILAR BOTHWELL: PART 5 by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN THE PENDULUM by JURGIS BALTRUSHAITIS |