Posted as Missing
Posted as Missing
Original Text
John Masefield, Poems (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1945): 58-59.
1Under all her topsails she trembled like a stag,
2The wind made a ripple in her bonny red flag;
3They cheered her from the shore and they cheered her from the pier,
4And under all her topsails she trembled like a deer.
5So she passed swaying, where the green seas run,
6Her wind-steadied topsails were stately in the sun;
7There was glitter on the water from her red port light,
8So she passed swaying, till she was out of sight.
9Long and long ago it was, a weary time it is,
10The bones of her sailor-men are coral plants by this;
11Coral plants, and shark-weed, and a mermaid's comb,
12And if the fishers net them they never bring them home.
13It's rough on sailors' women. They have to mangle hard,
14And stitch at dungarees till their finger-ends are scarred,
15Thinking of the sailor-men who sang among the crowd,
16Hoisting of her topsails when she sailed so proud.
Publication Start Year
1918
Publication Notes
The Poems and Plays of John Masefield (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1918).
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire, assisted by Ana Berdinskikh
RPO Edition
2009
Rhyme
Form