Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DAYS WITHOUT ALLOY by JEAN INGELOW

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHEN I SIT ON MARKET-DAYS AMID THE COMERS AND THE GOERS
Last Line: THEN YOU PULL'E HAUL'E, PULL'E HAUL'E, YOY! HEAVE, HOY!
Subject(s): MARKETS;


When I sit on market-days amid the comers and the goers,
Oh! full oft I have a vision of the days without alloy,
And a ship comes up the river with a jolly gang of towers,
And a "pull'e haul'e, pull'e haul'e, yoy! heave, hoy!"


There is busy talk around me, all about mine ears it hummeth,
But the wooden wharves I look on, and a dancing, heaving buoy,
For 'tis tidetime in the river, and she cometh - oh, she cometh!
With a "pull'e haul'e, pull'e haul'e, yoy! heave, hoy!"


Then I hear the water washing, never golden waves were brighter,
And I hear the capstan creaking - 'tis a sound that cannot cloy.
Bring her to, to ship her lading, brig or schooner, sloop or lighter,
With a "pull'e haul'e, pull'e haul'e, yoy! heave, hoy!"


Will ye step aboard, my dearest? for the high seas lie before us.
So I sailed adown the river in those days without alloy.
We are launched! But when, I wonder, shall a sweeter sound float o'er us
Than yon "pull'e haul'e, pull'e haul'e, yoy! heave, hoy!"




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