Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE OLD SEAMAN, by JOHN RUSKIN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE OLD SEAMAN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You ask me why mine eyes are bent
Last Line: And all my home is—here.
Subject(s): Old Age; Sailing & Sailors


I.

YOU ask me why mine eyes are bent
So darkly on the sea,
While others watch the azure hills
That lengthen on the lee.

II.

The azure hills—they soothe the sight
That fails along the foam;
And those may hail their nearing height
Who there have hope, or home.

III.

But I a loveless path have trod—
A beaconless career;
My hope hath long been all with God,
And all my home is—here.

IV.

The deep by day, the heaven by night,
Roll onward swift and dark;
Nor leave my soul the dove's delight,
Of olive branch, or ark.

V.

For more than gale, or gulf, or sand,
I've proved that there may be
Worse treachery on the steadfast land,
Than variable sea.

VI.

A danger worse than bay or beach—
A falsehood more unkind—
The treachery of a governed speech,
And an ungoverned mind.

VII.

The treachery of the deadly mart
Where human souls are sold;
The treachery of the hollow heart
That crumbles as we hold.

VIII.

Those holy hills and quiet lakes—
Ah! wherefore should I find
This weary fever-fit, that shakes
Their image in my mind.

IX.

The memory of a streamlet's din,
Through meadows daisy-drest—
Another might be glad therein,
And yet I cannot rest.

X.

I cannot rest unless it be
Beneath the churchyard yew;
But God, I think, hath yet for me
More earthly work to do.

XI.

And therefore with a quiet will,
I breathe the ocean air,
And bless the voice that calls me still
To wander and to bear.

XII.

Let others seek their native sod,
Who there have hearts to cheer;
My soul hath long been given to God,
And all my home is—here.





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