Oh, the shambling sea is a sexton old,And well his work is done.With an equal grave for lord and knave,He buries them every one. Then hoy and rip, with a rolling hip,He makes for the nearest shore;And God, who sent him a thousand ship,Will send him a thousand more;But some he’ll save for a bleaching […]

I was born for deep-sea faring;I was bred to put to sea;Stories of my father’s daringFilled me at my mother’s knee. I was sired among the surges;I was cubbed beside the foam;All my heart is in its verges,And the sea wind is my home. All my boyhood, from far vernalBourns of being, came to meDream-like, […]

There’s a schooner out from Kingsport,Through the morning’s dazzle-gleam,Snoring down the Bay of FundyWith a norther on her beam. How the tough wind springs to wrestle,When the tide is on the flood!And between them stands young daring–Arnold, master of the Scud. He is only “Martin’s youngster,”To the Minas coasting fleet,“Twelve year old, and full of […]

On the long slow heave of a lazy sea,To the flap of an idle sail,The Nancy’s Pride went out on the tide;And the skipper stood by the rail. All down, all down by the sleepy town,With the hollyhocks a-rowIn the little poppy gardens,The sea had her in tow. They let her slip by the breathing […]

I THE MERRYMAKERS Among the wintry mountains beside the Northern seaThere is a merrymaking, as old as old can be. Over the river reaches, over the wastes of snow,Halting at every doorway, the white drifts come and go. They scour upon the open, and mass along the wood,The burliest invaders that ever man withstood. With […]

And Yanna by the yule logSat in the empty hall,And watched the goblin firelightCaper upon the wall: The goblins of the hearthstone,Who teach the wind to sing,Who dance the frozen yule awayAnd usher back the spring; The goblins of the Northland,Who teach the gulls to scream,Who dance the autumn into dust,The ages into dream. Like […]

There are legends of Lost Haven,Come, I know not whence, to me,When the wind is in the clover,When the sun is on the sea. There are rumors in the pine-tops,There are whispers in the grass;And the flocking crows at nightfallBring home hints of things that pass Out upon the broad dike yonder,All day long beneath […]

Noons of poppy, noons of poppy,Scarlet leagues along the sea;Flaxen hair afloat in sunlight,Love, come down the world to me! There’s a Captain I must ship with,(Heart, that day be far from now!)Wears his dark command in silenceWith the sea-frost on his brow. Noons of poppy, noons of poppy,Purple shadows by the sea;How should love […]

I Buried alive in calm Rochelle,Six in a row by a crystal well, All Summer long on Bareau FenSlumber and sleep the Kelpie men; By the side of each to cheer his ghost,A flagon of foam with a crumpet of frost. Hear me, friends, for the years are fleet;Soon I leave the noise and the […]

Wild across the Breton country,Fabled centuries ago,Riding from the black sea border,Came the squadrons of the snow. Piping dread at every latch-hole,Moaning death at every sill,The white Yule came down in vengeanceUpon Ys, and had its will. Walled and dreamy stood the city,Wide and dazzling shone the sea,When the gods set hand to smotherYs, the […]

Smile, you inland hills and rivers!Flush, you mountains in the dawn!But my roving heart is seawardWith the ships of gray St. John. Fair the land lies, full of August,Meadow island, shingly bar,Open barns and breezy twilight,Peace and the mild evening star. Gently now this gentlest countryThe old habitude takes on,But my wintry heart is outboundWith […]

A lonely sail in the vast sea-room,I have put out for the port of gloom. The voyage is far on the trackless tide,The watch is long, and the seas are wide. The headlands blue in the sinking dayKiss me a hand on the outward way. The fading gulls, as they dip and veer,Lift me a […]

Comrades, comrades, have me buriedLike a warrior of the sea,With a flag across my breastAnd my sword upon my knee. Steering out from vanished headlandsFor a harbor on no chart,With the winter in the rigging,With the ice-wind in my heart, Down the bournless slopes of sea-room,With the long gray wake behind,I have sailed my cruiser […]

There is rumor in Dark Harbor,And the folk are all astir;For a stranger in the offingDraws them down to gaze at her, In the gray of early morning,Black against the orange streak,Making in below the ledges,With no colors at her peak. Something makes their hearts uneasyAs they watch the long black hull,For she brings the […]

Don’t you know the sailing orders?It is time to put to sea,And the stranger in the harborSends a boat ashore for me. With the thunder of her canvasComing on the wind again,I can hear the Shadow BoatswainPiping to his shadow men. Is it firelight or morning,That red flicker on the floor?Your good-by was braver, sweetheart,When […]

Iron and granite and rust,In a crumbling garden old,Where the roses are paler than dustAnd the lilies are green with gold, Under the racing moon,Inconscious of war or crime,In a strange and ghostly noon,It marks the oblivion of time. The shadow steals through its arc,Still as a frosted breath,Fitful, gleaming, and darkAs the cold frustration […]

“Cornel, cornel, green and white,Spreading on the forest floor,Whither went my lost delightThrough the silent door?” “Mortal, mortal, overfond,How come you at all to knowThere be any joys beyondBlisses here and now?” “Cornel, cornel, white and cool,Many a mortal, I’ve heard tell,Who is only Fancy’s foolKnows that secret well.” “Mortal, mortal, what would youWith that […]

I like the old house tolerably well,Where I must dwellLike a familiar gnome;And yet I never shall feel quite at home:I love to roam. Day after day I loiter and exploreFrom door to door;So many treasures lureThe curious mind. What histories obscureThey must immure! I hardly know which room I care for best;This fronting west,With […]

“Cras ingens iterabimus aequor.” Wind of the dead men’s feet,Blow down the empty streetOf this old city by the seaWith news for me! Blow me beyond the grimeAnd pestilence of time!I am too sick at heart to warWith failure any more. Thy chill is in my bones;The moonlight on the stonesIs pale, and palpable, and […]

This laboring vast, Tellurian Galleon,Riding at anchor off the orient sun,Had broken its cable, and stood out to space. FRANCIS THOMPSON. Galleon, ahoy, ahoy!Old earth riding off the sun,And straining at your cable as you rideOn the tide,Battered laboring and vast,In the blastOf the hurricane that blows between the worlds,Ahoy! ‘Morning, shipmates! ‘Drift and chartless?Laded […]