Sea-Fever / John Masefield

Frigate. Painting by Johannes Christiaan Schotel (1787-1838), Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

"Sea-Fever" is a 1902 poem by British Poet Laureate John Masefield.

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.

History

Seafever, John Masefield

"Sea-Fever" originally appeared in Salt-Water Ballads, Masefield's debut volume of poetry published in 1902 in London by Grant Richards. It was republished in Salt-Water Poems and Ballads, 1916.

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...

In Masefield's Collected Poems the opening line was changed to the text now more commonly anthologised: "I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky". The opening lines of the following stanzas retained the form "I must down to the seas again [...]".

External links

Audio / video

• "Sea-Fever" on YouTube

This poem is in the public domain