The Sailor Boy by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The Sailor Boy
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson

He rose at dawn, and fired with hope,
    Shot o'er the seething harbour-bar,
And reach'd the ship and caught the rope,
    And whistled to the morning star.

And while he whistled long and loud
    He heard a fierce mermaiden cry
"O boy, tho' thou are young and proud.
    I see the place where thou will lie.

"The sands and yeasty surges mix
     In caves about the dreary bay,
And on thy ribs the limpet sticks,
     And in thy heart the scrawl shall play."

"Fool," he answer'd, "death is sure
     To those that stay and those that roam,
But I will nevermore endure
     To sit with empty hands at home.

"My mother clings about my neck,
     My sisters crying, 'Stay for shame;'
My father raves of death and wreck,-
     They are all to blame, they are all to blame.

"God help me! save I take my part
     Of danger on the roaring sea,
A devil rises in my heart,
     Far worse than any death to me."