Classic Poem

A body weather-beaten, brown, and large,
Like a big lumbering Ethiopian barge
Pushed up Niletus with a crooked pole;
Yet, as the barge betimes unfuris its sail
And flies, a buoyant bird, before the gale,
So this lethargic body can unroll
The white lateens of its aspiring soul,
And in the winds of beauty and of love
Careen as light and buoyant as a dove.