Famous Nature Poem

As you read this poem about the beauty of sailing the ocean, imagine the smell of the salt air, the wind on your face and the movement of the waves as you sail toward your destiny.

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My grandmother lived on the Gulf Coast on a bay, and I visited her throughout my childhood, from my home in the southwest desert. I've lived years now from any coast and found this poem...

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Famous Poem

Sea Fever

John Masefield By more John Masefield

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 gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray 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.

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Has this poem touched you? Share your story!
  • Alicia by Alicia
  • 2 years ago

My grandmother lived on the Gulf Coast on a bay, and I visited her throughout my childhood, from my home in the southwest desert. I've lived years now from any coast and found this poem expressing my yearning to see the ocean again. I'm on vacation right now on the Galveston Bay, reading this poem as I watch the seagulls and hear the waves. I think even those who are not seamen or grew up by the ocean are called at times to the sea, and this poem expresses that.

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  • Gerald Sweeney by Gerald Sweeney
  • 4 years ago

Growing up, my father, who was never a sailor, would suddenly come out of a daydream to recite John Masefield's "Sea Fever." I did not have a clue until I went to sea with the U.S. Navy as a deck seaman who manned the bridge, often at the helm. I was mostly at sea and considered myself, after four years, a salt. Now I believe I enjoy "Sea Fever."

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  • Chris Saltmarsh by Chris Saltmarsh
  • 5 years ago

This was the first poem - perhaps the first writing - that captured me. More than 60 years ago now.

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  • Shikha by Shikha
  • 7 years ago

A girl who has always dream to fly is still in bondage of customs of society. She is slave. She has a lot to do for the world.

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  • Daphne Stannard by Daphne Stannard, Tacoma
  • 9 years ago

The first few words of "Sea Fever" were in a newspaper quiz that my daughter and I tackle each day. She was amazed that I could complete the first line (but I couldn't remember the author's name). I knew the words because when I would ask my mother, "Can we go to the beach?" she would reply, "I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky..."

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