the call of the running tide

Keeping the "going backwards through the Poets Laureate" series going - and here's a famous John Masefield poem, as taken from within the pictured 1986 compilation ...

... Masefield was Poet Laureate from 1930 to 1967, preceded by Robert Bridges, who I'll blip tomorrow.

I think I can get this theme all the way back to Wordsworth - with verses all taken from within my poetry collection ;-)


Sea-Fever

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
 
I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
 
I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

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John Masefield (1878 - 1967)

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