Vagabond
Vagabond
Original Text
John Masefield, Poems (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1945): 28-29.
1Dunno a heap about the what an' why,
2 Can't say's I ever knowed.
3Heaven to me's a fair blue stretch of sky,
4 Earth's jest a dusty road.
5Dunno the names o' things, nor what they are,
6 Can't say's I ever will.
7Dunno about God--he's jest the noddin' star
8 Atop the windy hill.
9Dunno about Life--it's jest a tramp alone
10 From wakin'-time to doss.
11Dunno about Death--it's jest a quiet stone
12 All over-grey wi' moss.
13An' why I live, an' why the old world spins,
14 Are things I never knowed;
15My mark's the gypsy fires, the lonely inns,
16 An' jest the dusty road.
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