free-verse23 lines
The Queen of Bubbles
by Vachel Lindsay[Written for a picture]
The Youth speaks: -
"Why do you seek the sun
In your bubble-crown ascending?
Your chariot will melt to mist.
Your crown will have an ending."
The Goddess replies: -
"Nay, sun is but a bubble,
Earth is a whiff of foam -
To my caves on the coast of Thule
Each night I call them home.
Thence Faiths blow forth to angels
And loves blow forth to men -
They break and turn to nothing
And I make them whole again.
On the crested waves of chaos
I ride them back reborn:
New stars I bring at evening
For those that burst at morn:
My soul is the wind of Thule
And evening is the sign -
The sun is but a bubble,
A fragile child of mine."