Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti

Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803–1849)

Sailor’s Song (from Death’s Jest Book, Act i)

TO sea, to sea! The calm is o’er;

The wanton water leaps in sport,

And rattles down the pebbly shore;

The dolphin wheels, the sea-cows snort,

And unseen mermaids’ pearly song

Comes bubbling up, the weeds among.

Fling broad the sail, dip deep the oar:

To sea, to sea! the calm is o’er.

To sea, to sea! our wide-winged bark

Shall billowy cleave its sunny way,

And with its shadow, fleet and dark,

Break the caved Tritons’ azure day,

Like mighty eagle soaring light

O’er antelopes on Alpine height.

The anchor heaves, the ship swings free,

The sails swell full. To sea, to sea!