Sea-Fever
Sea-Fever
Original Text
John Masefield, Poems (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1945): 20-21.
1I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
2And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
3And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
4And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.
5I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
6Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
7And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
8And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
9I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
10To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind 's like a whetted knife;
11And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
12And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
Publication Start Year
1902
Publication Notes
Salt-Water Ballads (London: G. Richards, 1902; New York, NY: Macmillan, 1913).
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire, assisted by Ana Berdinskikh
RPO Edition
2009
Rhyme
Form