Dreams of the Sea

I know not why I yearn for thee again,
  To sail once more upon thy fickle flood;
I'll hear thy waves wash under my death-bed,
  Thy salt is lodged forever in my blood.

Yet I have seen thee lash the vessel's sides
  In fury, with thy many tailéd whip;
And I have seen thee, too, like Galilee,
  When Jesus walked in peace to Simon's ship

And I have seen thy gentle breeze as soft
  As summer's, when it makes the cornfields run;
And I have seen thy rude and lusty gale
  Make ships show half their bellies to the sun.

Thou knowest the way to tame the wildest life,
  Thou knowest the way to bend the great and proud:
I think of that Armada whose puffed sails,
  Greedy and large, came swallowing every cloud.

But I have seen the sea-boy, young and drowned,
  Lying on shore and by thy cruel hand,
A seaweed beard was on his tender chin,
  His heaven-blue eyes were filled with common sand.

And yet, for all, I yearn for thee again,
  To sail once more upon thy fickle flood:
I'll hear thy waves wash under my death-bed,
  Thy salt is lodged forever in my blood.

by William Henry Davies (1871-1940) , "Dreams of the Sea", from Foliage, published 1913

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

by Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) , "Dreams by the Sea", 1914. [voice and piano]
by Tony Hewitt-Jones (1926-1989) , "Dreams of the Sea", published 1958 [alto or baritone or bass, SATB chorus, strings, and oboe obbligato], from Seven sea poems, no. ?
by Bernard James Naylor (1907-1986) , "Dreams of the Sea", published 1950. [medium voice and piano]
by Reginald Chauncey Robbins (1871-1955) , "Dreams of the Sea", published c1922. [voice and piano]

Date added to the website: 2009-01-14.

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