Sailing Poems

Table of Contents

1. Sailing

   by Dorothy Allen

   
   

   ►

   ▼

    Full Text

   Swiftly cutting through the water,
   Falling spray on either side,
   Coyly dipping,
   Rising, skipping,
   Borne along by wind and tide,
   Merrily my boat doth glide.
   

   Oh, the sunlight, how it flickers,
   Showering diamonds on the way!
   Madly dancing,
   Shining, glancing,
   Slyly beckoning, come and play,
   Be, like us, bright, free, and gay.
   

   And I sing a song for gladness,
   Send it echoing toward the sea;
   I am happy,
   Happy, happy!
   Blow ye winds! Blow joyfully,
   Nor sigh; but sing and laugh with me.
   

2. A Life on the Ocean Wave

   by Epes Sargent

   
   

   ►

   ▼

    Full Text

   A life on the ocean wave,
   A home on the rolling deep,
   Where the scattered waters rave,
   And the winds their revels keep!
   Like an eagle caged, I pine
   On this dull, unchanging shore:
   Oh! give me the flashing brine,
   The spray and the tempest's roar!
   

   Once more on the deck I stand
   Of my own swift-gliding craft:
   Set sail! farewell to the land!
   The gale follows fair abaft.
   We shoot through the sparkling foam
   Like an ocean-bird set free;—
   Like the ocean-bird, our home
   We'll find far out on the sea.
   

   The land is no longer in view,
   The clouds have begun to frown;
   But with a stout vessel and crew,
   We'll say, Let the storm come down!
   And the song of our hearts shall be,
   While the winds and the waters rave,
   A home on the rolling sea!
   A life on the ocean wave!
   

3. At Sea

   by Sara Teasdale

   
   

   ►

   ▼

    Full Text

   In the pull of the wind I stand, lonely,
   On the deck of a ship, rising, falling,
   Wild night around me, wild water under me,
   Whipped by the storm, screaming and calling.
   

   Earth is hostile and the sea hostile,
   Why do I look for a place to rest?
   I must fight always and die fighting
   With fear an unhealing wound in my breast.
   

4. There's a Ship on the Sea

   by Mary Mapes Dodge

   There’s a ship on the sea. It is sailing to-night,
   Sailing to-night!
   And father’s aboard, and the moon is all bright,
   Shining and bright!
   Dear Moon, he’ll be sailing for many a night—
   Sailing from mother and me.
   Oh, follow the ship with your silvery light,
   As father sails over the sea!
   

5. The Old Sail-Boat

   by Francis Charles MacDonald

   
   

   ►

   ▼

    Full Text

   Dismasted, rudderless, sides agape,
   She lies upon the beach a wreck,—
   She that was wont, a lovely shape,
   To sail with beauty on her deck.
   

   Beneath the moon before the wind
   She sped, and floods of silvery speech
   Poured over her: yet now I find
   Only the hulk upon the beach.
   

   For they are gone; the house is gone;
   Beauty has faded, lips are still:
   The old boat on the beach alone
   Lies in the shadow of the hill.
   

6. A Gray Day

   by Ruby Archer

   A gray day, and the gulls are gone.
   Visor of mist o'er the sun is drawn.
   The cordage creaks and the sails all strain,
   The deck is drenched with the rushing rain,
   The waves leap strong at the struggling keel,
   And the ship rides madly with plunge and reel.
   But the sailors shout as they haul away,
   And merrily sing, for it's naught care they
   For the wind that screams on the lee,
   Or a gray day out at sea.
   

7. A Sail

   by Ruby Archer

   
   

   ►

   ▼

    Full Text

   From the delicate mist of morning
   A sail appeared to me;
   And I cried: 'Oh, here is my ship come in,
   My ship from over the sea,
   

   "Bearing a cargo of amber,
   Beryl of Orient fame,
   A mystic rune, and a magic wand,
   And a fairing I may not name."
   

   When the mist had quivered to sunlight,
   And the sail hove clear to view,
   Behold! Is was not my ship at all
   Come in from beyond the blue
   

   To make of my heart a haven,
   To richen my life and lot;
   It could not carry the freight I dreamed,—
   'Twas only a pleasure-yacht!
   

Related Poems