How Sick to Wait in Any Place but Thine
poem 368
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.
Read Complete AnalysesHow 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
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