Roadways

One road leads to London,
    One road leads to Wales, 
My road leads me seawards
    To the white dipping sails.

One road leads to the river,
    And it goes singing slow; 
My road leads to shipping,
    Where the bronzed sailors go.

Leads me, lures me, calls me
    To salt green tossing sea; 
A road without earth's road-dust
    Is the right road for me.

A wet road heaving, shining,
    And wild with seagull's cries, 
A mad salt sea-wind blowing
    The salt spray in my eyes.

My road calls me, lures me
    West, east, south, and north; 
Most roads lead men homewards,
    My road leads me forth.

To add more miles to the tally
    Of grey miles left behind, 
In quest of that one beauty
    God put me here to find.

by John Masefield (1878-1967) , "Roadways", from Ballads and Poems, published 1910

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by John Hopkins Densmore (1880-1943) , "Roadways", published <<1940.
by Donald Edeson , "Roadways", published 1933. [voice and piano]
by Harold N. Finch , "Roadways", published 1947. [SATB a cappella]
by Vivian Hickey , "Roadways", published 1947. [SATB a cappella]
by Gustav Holst (1874-1934) , "Roadways", published 1932. [unison voices and piano]
by Samuel R. Lewis , "Roadways", published <<1940.
by Hermann Frederic Löhr (1872-1943) , "Roadways", published 1921. [voice and orchestra]
by Michael Mulliner (1896?-1973) , "Roadways", published 1934. [unison voices and piano]
by William Reginald Pasfield (1909-) , "Roadways", published 1957. [unison voices and piano]
by Edith Rose (1892-1972) , "Roadways", published <<1940. [voice and piano]
by L. Gordon Thorp , "Roadways", published 1937. [unison voices and piano]

Date added to the website: 2008-01-21.

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Sheet music:

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