Paper Boats
Paper Boats - meaning Summary
Childhood Longing Across Distance
The poem presents a child launching paper boats down a stream as acts of longing and communication. Each boat bears the child’s name and village and carries shiuli flowers as small offerings. The natural world—clouds, night, and imagined sky playmates—turns the ritual into a hopeful journey. By evening the speaker blends wakeful hope with sleep, envisioning the boats carrying dreams and fairies, connecting distant strangers through simple gestures.
Read Complete AnalysesDay by day I float my paper boats one by one down the running stream. In bid black letters I write my name on them and the name of the village where I live. I hope that someone in some strange land will find them and know who I am. I load my little boats with shiuli flower from our garden, and hope that these blooms of the dawn will be carried safely to land in the night. I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky and see the little clouds setting thee white bulging sails. I know not what playmate of mine in the sky sends them down the air to race with my boats! When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that my paper boats float on and on under the midnight stars. The fairies of sleep are sailing in them, and the lading ins their baskets full of dreams.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.