Page:A Mainsail Haul - Masefield - 1913.djvu/9

 I yarned with ancient shipmen beside the galley range And some were fond of women, but all were fond of change; They sang their quavering chanties, all in a fo'c's'le drone, And I was finely suited, if I had only known.

I rested in an ale-house that had a sanded floor, Where seamen sat a-drinking and chalking up the score; They yarned of ships and mermaids, of topsail sheets and slings, But I was discontented; I looked for better things.

I heard a drunken fiddler, in Billy Lee's Saloon, I brooked an empty belly with thinking of the tune: I swung the doors disgusted as drunkards rose to dance, And now I know the music was life and life's romance.

1904.