Follow The Sea

Cicely Fox Smith 1882 (Lymm, Cheshire) – 1954 (Bow, Devon)



'What is it makes a man follow the sea?
Ask me another!' says Billy Magee:
'Maybe it's liquor and maybe it's love -
Maybe it's likin' to be on the move -
Maybe the salt drop that runs in his blood
Won't let his killick lie snug in the mud:
What is it makes such poor idjits as me
Follow the sea -follow the sea? . . .
Jiggered if I know!' says Billy Magee.

'What is it keeps a chap rollin' around
All his life long from the Skaw to the Sound?
Samplin' the weathers from Hull to Rangoon -
Doldrums an' westerlies, Trade an' typhoon -
Hurricane, cyclone an' southerly buster -
In any old drogher as flies the Red Duster?
What is it makes a chap follow the sea -
Follow the sea - follow the sea -
Bust me if I know!' says Billy Magee.

'What is it makes a man stick to the sea?
Ah, you may ask me!' says Billy Magee.
'Stick to it hungry and stick to it cold,
Stick to it after he's broken and old,
Freeze in the Forties an' sweat on the Line,
Shiver an' burn in the rain an' the shine,
Stick it until he can't stick it no more -
Curse it an' leave it for something ashore -
Chuck up his shore job an' follow the sea -
Stick to an' live by an' die by the sea -
Search me if I know!' says Billy Magee.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:16 min read
64

Quick analysis:

Scheme AAXXBBAAA CCDDEEAAA AAFFGGHHAAA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,176
Words 254
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 9, 9, 11

Cicely Fox Smith

Cicely Fox Smith (1 February 1882 – 8 April 1954) was an English poet and writer. Born in Lymm, Cheshire and educated at Manchester High School for Girls, she briefly lived in Canada, before returning to the United Kingdom shortly before the outbreak of World War I. She settled in Hampshire and began writing poetry, often with a nautical theme. Smith wrote over 600 poems in her life, for a wide range of publications. In later life, she expanded her writing to a number of subjects, fiction and non-fiction. For her services to literature, the British Government awarded her a small pension. more…

All Cicely Fox Smith poems | Cicely Fox Smith Books

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