Tan Bark Sails Poem by Andy Vine

Andy Vine 

2 under sailing

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 

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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.

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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;

IMG 1498 Sea Fever

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)

    © Ken Christie 2023