Explore "Old Boats" by Theodosia Pickrering Garrison on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I saw the old sea captain in his city daughter's house, / Shaved till his chin was pink, and brushed till his hair was flat, / In a broadcloth suit and varnished boots and a collar up to his ears. / (I'd seen him last with a slicker on and a tied down oilskin hat.)
And it happened that I went home last June, and saw in Mallory's yard / The old red dory that sprung a leak a couple of years ago, / Dragged out of good salt water and braced to stand in the grass / And be filled with dirt from stem to stern, where posies and such / could grow.
Painted to beat the band, with vines strung over the sides / And red geraniums in the bow, -- a boat that was built for water / Made into a flower garden. I looked, but I didn't laugh, / For I thought of the old sea captain living in town with his daughter.