John Masefield

I must go down to the sea again, for the call of the running tide, is a wild call and a clear call, that cannot be denied!

I have seen flowers come in stony placesAnd kind things done by men with ugly faces,And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races,So I trust, too.

Only the road and the dawn, the sun, the wind, and the rain,And the watch fire under stars, and sleep, and the road again.

The distant soul can shake the distant friend's soul and make the longing felt, over untold miles.

Coming in solemn beauty like slow old tunes of Spain.

I must go down to the seas again to the lonely sea and the sky And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.

God warms his hands at man's heart when he prays.

Once in a century a man may be ruined or made insufferable by praise. But surely once a minute something generous dies for want of it.

An art in which the artist by means of rhythm and great sincerity can convey to others the sentiment which he feels about life.

Best trust the happy moments. ... The days that make us happy make us wise.

I must go down to the sea...to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by......

But Time and Tide and Buttered Eggs wait for no man.

Christmas ought to be brought up to date,_ Maria said. __t ought to have gangsters, and aeroplanes and a lot of automatic pistols.

(...) It,s hard not to be able. There, look there!/ I cannot get the movement nor the light;/Sometimes it almost makes a man despair/To try and try and never get it right./Oh, if I could -oh, if I only might,/I wouldn,t mind what hells I,d have to pass,/Not if the whole world called me fool and ass."Dauber (A poem). John Masefield. 1916. London William Heinemann