Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SEXTANT, by ALOYSIUS MICHAEL SULLIVAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SEXTANT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Euclid devised the trap
Last Line: At the end of a golden stick.
Alternate Author Name(s): Sullivan, A. M.


Euclid devised the trap
By which the sailor's eye
Captures the angle of light
To mark his compass by,
And he follows the dancing sun
Over an arc of sky.

Though waters be dark and strange,
Heaven's a familiar place
As the stars their map unroll
To the man who measures space
With the light of a thousand suns
Burning upon his face.

Lost with the churn of the wheel
And the glow of the phosphor wick
Is the ship that fades in the mist;
But the sailor has learned the trick
Of steering home with a star
At the end of a golden stick.





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