Flowers For Socrates

by NONA BLYTH CLOUD

My father’s favorite poem was “Ulysses,” written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (link below). However, his favorite poet was John Masefield (1878-1967), for his many poems about the sea. Coincidentally, the two men were Poet Laureates of the United Kingdom, Tennyson for 42 years, the longest serving poet, and Masefield for 37 years, the second-longest to serve.

John Masefield’s most famous poem is Sea Fever, and it is the Masefield poem my father loved the best. It meant a great deal to a man who grew up on the beaches and waters of Southern California, then traveled around the world on tramp steamers, but spent most of his adult life living in Arizona. When my dad retired, he fulfilled his dream of buying cruising sailboat and sailing away across the Pacific.
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Sea Fever

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 grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey 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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