How Sick to Wait in Any Place but Thine
poem 368
How sick to wait in any place but thine I knew last night when someone tried to twine Thinking perhaps that I looked tired or alone Or breaking almost with unspoken pain And I turned ducal That right was thine One port suffices for a Brig like mine Ours be the tossing wild though the sea Rather than a Mooring unshared by thee. Ours be the Cargo unladed here Rather than the spicy isles And thou not there
How Sick to Wait in Any Place but Thine - meaning Summary
Longing for Shared Anchorage
The speaker rejects comfort from others because only the beloved's presence matters. Dismissing an attempt at consolation, she insists that shared hardship—stormy seas, a single port, even an unladed cargo—is preferable to any pleasure or safety without the beloved. The poem frames desire as a choice for companionship over ease, using maritime metaphors to underline loyalty, intimacy, and preference for mutual struggle rather than solitary comfort.
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