Men who have loved the ships they took to sea, Loved the tall masts, the prows that creamed with foam, Have learned, deep in their hearts, how it might be That there is yet a dearer thing than home. The decks they walk, the rigging in the stars, The clean boards counted in the watch they keep -- These, and the sunlight on the slippery spars, Will haunt them ever, waking and asleep. Ashore, these men are not as other men: They walk as strangers through the crowded street, Or, brooding by their fires, they hear again The drone astern, where gurgling waters meet, Or see again a wide and blue lagoon, And a lone ship that rides there with the moon. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ALONZO THE BRAVE AND THE FAIR IMOGINE by MATTHEW GREGORY LEWIS ANNE by LIZETTE WOODWORTH REESE KNEE-DEEP IN JUNE by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY TO A FOIL'D EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONAIRE by WALT WHITMAN ALAS! by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE NATURAL FIRE by CLIFFORD ALLEN |