Canto 16The Dream Boat
Book 16. Part Seven - Pondicherry Circa 1927 – 1947
Pondicherry, c. 1927–1947
Journey’s End
The day ends lost in a stretch of even,
A long road trod — and the little farther.
5Now the waste-land, now the silence;
A blank dark wall, and behind it heaven.
The Dream Boat
Who was it that came to me in a boat made of dream-fire,
With his flame brow and his sun-gold body?
10Melted was the silence into a sweet secret murmur,
“Do you come now? is the heart’s fire ready?”
Hidden in the recesses of the heart something shuddered.
It recalled all that the life’s joy cherished,
Imaged the felicity it must leave lost for ever,
15And the boat passed and the gold god vanished.
Now within the hollowness of the world’s breast inhabits —
For the love died and the old joy ended —
Void of a felicity that has fled, gone for ever,
And the gold god and the dream boat come not.