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by Allan Cunningham (1784 - 1842)

A wet sheet and a flowing sea
Language: English 
A wet sheet and a flowing sea,
  A wind that follows fast
And fills the white and rustling sail
  And bends the gallant mast;
And bends the gallant mast, my boys,
  While like the eagle free
Away the good ship flies, and leaves
  Old England on the lee.
  
"O for a soft and gentle wind!"
  I heard a fair one cry:
But give to me the snoring breeze
  And white waves heaving high;
And white waves heaving high, my lads,	 
  The good ship tight and free --
The world of waters is our home,
  And merry men are we.
  
There's tempest in yon hornèd moon,
  And lightning in yon cloud:
But hark the music, mariners!
  The wind is piping loud;
The wind is piping loud, my boys,
  The lightning flashes free --	 
While the hollow oak our palace is,
  Our heritage the sea.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   R. Still 

View text with all available footnotes

Text Authorship:

  • by Allan Cunningham (1784 - 1842) [author's text checked 1 time 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 Humphrey Procter-Gregg (1895 - 1980), "A wet sheet and a flowing sea" [voice and piano], misattributed to Thomas Campbell [
     text not verified 
    ]
  • by Robert Still (1910 - 1971), "A wet sheet and a flowing sea" [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2005-12-17
Line count: 24
Word count: 141

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