A Valediction

We're bound for blue water where the great winds blow,

It's time to get the tacks aboard, time for us to go;

The crowd's at the capstan and the tune's in the shout,

"A long pull, a strong pull, and warp the hooker out."

The bow-wash is eddying, spreading from the bows,

Aloft and loose the topsails and some one give a rouse;

A salt-Atlantic chanty shall be music to the dead,

"A long pull, a strong pull, and the yard to the masthead."

Green and merry run the seas, the wind comes cold,

Salt and strong and pleasant,  and worth a mint of gold;

And she's staggering, swooping, as she feels her feet,

"A long pull, a strong pull, and aft the mainsheet!"

Shrilly squeal the running sheaves, the weather-gear strains,

Such a clatter of chain-sheets, the devil's in the chains;

Over us the bright stars, under us the drowned,

"A long pull, a strong pull, and we're outward bound."

Yonder, round and ruddy, is the mellow old moon,

The red-funnelled tug has gone, and now, sonny, soon

We'll be clear of the Channel, so watch how you steer,

"Ease her when she pitches, and so-long, my dear."

From SALT WATER POEMS AND BALLADS, John Masefield, published by The Macmillan Co., NY, © 1912, p. 49; first published in SALT-WATER BALLADS, © 1902.

Another fine setting-out poem describing the jobs to be done as a sailing ship heads out to sea.

The header-graphic is by artist Charles Pears and was used to illustrate this poem.

Charley Noble