A Sailor's Song
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
Oh for the breath of the briny deep,
And the tug of the bellying sail,
With the sea-gull's cry across the sky
And a passing boatman's hail.
For, be she fierce or be she gay,
The sea is a famous friend alway.
Ho! for the plains where the dolphins play,
And the bend of the mast and spars,
And a fight at night with the wild sea-sprite
When the foam has drowned the stars.
And, pray, what joy can the landsman feel
Like the rise and fall of a sliding keel?
Fair is the mead; the lawn is fair
And the birds sing sweet on the lea;
But the echo soft of a song aloft
Is the strain that pleases me;
And swish of rope and ring of chain
Are music to men who sail the main.
Then, if you love me, let me sail
While a vessel dares the deep;
For the ship 's my wife, and the breath of life
Are the raging gales that sweep;
And when I 'm done with calm and blast,
A slide o'er the side, and rest at last.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 46 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABXBCX CDXDEE XFXFGG BAXAHH |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 875 |
Words | 188 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
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"A Sailor's Song" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/28631/a-sailor's-song>.
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