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 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 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 text with all available footnotesFirst published in Speaker (July 1902)
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