Voyaging by Berton Braley (1922) poem quoting Moby-Dick

 BRALEY’S POEMS

There is a phrase from “Moby Dick”
Which lifts me from my sloth and ease,
It stirs me when my soul is sick
Of dull routine and dredgeries;
Old Melville’s wakening words are these
To lure me from all hum-drum posts.
“I love to sail forbidden seas
And land on barbarous coasts!”

Give me, instead of air that’s thick
With city dust, the salt sea breeze
Which makes the blood run glad and quick;
Give me the storm-king’s melodies,
And let me fare to shores that freeze
Or tropics full of savage hosts;
“I love to sail forbidden seas
And land on barbarous coasts!”

Aye, at the wheel I’d take my trick
To streer through shoals, past sunken keys;
Or land on coral isles and pick
The honeyed fruit of bounteous trees;
Or seek on barren sandy leas
For treasure watched by prairie ghosts;
“I love to sail forbidden seas
And land on barbarous coasts!”

ENVOY
Great gods of chance, I’m on my knees
Reveal each lure the planet boasts;
“I love to sail forbidden seas
And land on barbarous coasts!”
(Copyright, 1922, NEA Service.)
"Braley's Poems." Kalamazoo Gazette [MI]. May 6, 1922: 4 col 4.
Braley, Berton. "Voyaging." Norfolk Post [VA]. April 8, 1922: 4 cols 7-8.

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