My boat is stranded. The sea has fled
Beyond the horizon engulfed in red.
The shore is empty, the clouds are torn
And tossed around by a bitter storm.
My boat is shattered. The earth has split
Beneath constellations that stay unlit.
The universe has become unkind.
The birds are lost in the stifling sky.
My boat is missing the soothing pace
Of rushing waves in a windy space.
My boat is dreaming it’s off to lose
Itself in luminous greens and blues.
To those who tell me my boat will fail
To conquer the dark and the unforeseen
I won’t say a word: I will hoist the sail
And go in search of the sea.
Gustave Courbet, The Fishing Boat, 1865