by John Masefield (1878 - 1967)
A wind's in the heart of me, a fire's in...
Language: English
A wind's in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels, I am tired of brick and stone and rumbling wagon-wheels; I hunger for the sea's edge, the [limit]1 of the land, Where the wild old Atlantic is shouting on the sand. Oh I'll be going, leaving the noises of the street, To where a lifting foresail-foot is yanking at the sheet; To a windy, tossing anchorage where yawls and ketches ride, Oh I'll be going, going, until I meet the tide. And first I'll hear the sea-wind, the mewing of the gulls, The clucking, sucking of the sea about the rusty hulls, The songs at the capstan [at]2 the hooker warping out, And then the heart of me'll know I'm there or thereabout. Oh I am sick of brick and stone, the heart of me is sick, For windy green, unquiet sea, the realm of Moby Dick; And I'll be going, going, from the roaring of the wheels, For a wind's in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)First published in Speaker (July 1902)
1 Keel: "limits"
2 Keel: "in"
Authorship:
- by John Masefield (1878 - 1967), "A wind's in the heart of me", appears in Salt Water Ballads, first published 1902 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Tony Hewitt-Jones (1926 - 1989), "A wanderer's song", published 1958 [ alto (or baritone or bass) and strings ], from Seven sea poems, choral suite [sung text not yet checked]
- by J. Frederick Keel (1871 - 1954), "A wanderer's song" [ voice and piano ], from Four Salt-Water Ballads, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Oscar Rasbach (1888 - 1975), "A wanderer's song", published 1927 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Mike Pearson
This text was added to the website: 2008-01-21
Line count: 16
Word count: 173