I want a boat with tan bark sails
To sail the ocean blue
And a bow sprit stout
And a good long keel
To keep her straight and true
And down below a cabin snug
With stove to cut the chill
Of mornings up in Nootka Sound
When everything is still.
I want a boat with tan bark sails
An old gaff rig would do.
A boat like me, not young, but strong
With rigging tried and true.
A boat that loves the swoop and swerve
Of ocean swells out there
Beyond the continental shelf
Beyond the tides of care
Out there is where I want to be
On a boat with tan bark sails
With frigate birds for company
And pods of passing whales.
I’d watch her bow cut through the waves
As she danced along her way
And climb her mast to watch the stars
Before the break of day.
Andy Vine
2006
Sea Fever
I must go 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 go 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 go 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.
John Masefield (1878-1967)