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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.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   J. Keel 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
First published in Speaker (July 1902)
1 Keel: "limits"
2 Keel: "in"

Text 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: 175

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–Emily Ezust, Founder

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