AN Italian boy that liked to play In Genoa about the ships all day, With curly head and dark, dark eyes, That gazed at earth in child surprise; And dreamed of distant stranger skies. He watched the ships that came crowding in With cargo of riches; he loved the din Of the glad rush out and the spreading sails And the echo of far-off windy gales. He studied the books of the olden day; He studied but knew far more than they; He talked to the learned men of the school -- So wise he was they thought him a fool, A fool with the dark, dark, dreamful eyes, A child he was -- grown wonder-wise. Youth and dreams are over, past And out, far out he is sailing fast Toward the seas he dreamed; -- strange lands arise -- The world is made rich by his great emprise -- And the wisest know he was more than wise. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONTRA MORTEM: THE NOTHING II by HAYDEN CARRUTH DOMESDAY BOOK: ELENOR MURRAY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS TUNICA PALLIO PROPRIOR by MARIANNE MOORE COLLEGE DRINKING SONG by GEORGE SANTAYANA THE DEATH OF A PHOTOGRAPHER by KAREN SWENSON |