97 Sailor Poems about the Beckoned and Entranced Life

The sea has long been a muse for poets, and sailors’ lives are full of adventure, romance, and tragedy.

In this collection, we explore various types of sailor poems, from famous works to those for children and funerals, as well as those that rhyme or inspire.

Whether you’re a seafaring soul or simply fascinated by the life of sailors, these poems on sailor capture the essence of a world unlike any other.

Join us as we set sail on a poetic journey through the oceans and the hearts of sailors.

Famous Sailor Poems

Famous poems about sailor capture the spirit of the sea and the allure of the open ocean, inviting readers to embark on a journey of their own.

1. The Sailor’s Consolation

       by Charles Dibdin

One night came on a hurricane,
The sea was mountains rolling,
When Barney Buntline turned his quid,
And said to Billy Bowling:
“A strong norwester’s blowing, Bill;
Hark! Don’t ye hear it roar now?
Lord help ’em, how I pities all
unhappy folks on shore now!
“Foolhardy chaps who live in town,
What danger they are all in,

And now are quaking in their beds,
For fear the roof shall fall in;
Poor creatures, how they envy us,
And wish, as I’ve a notion,
For our good luck, in such a storm,
To be upon the ocean.
“But as for them who’re out all day,
On business from their houses,
And late at night are coming home,
To cheer the babes and spouses;

While you and I, Bill, on the deck,
Are comfortably lying,
My eyes! what tiles and chimney pots
About their heads are flying!
“And very often have we heard
How men are killed and undone
By overturns of carriages,
By thieves, and fires in London.
We know what risks all landsmen run,
From noblemen to tailors;

Then, Bill, let us thank Providence
That you and I are sailors.”

2. Spiritual Warfare Begins

       by Liam Mcdaid

A sad state our government has become today
in this awful news that just pushes the boat out further
As our democracy for one protecting our children
Why it is even under attack beats me up inside moral grounds
this should not even be considered under the harshest circumstances
because it’s a humane act to love our little ones bless them with life
not kill them shows savages craving suffering judgemental fools

3. The Optimistic Skipper

       by Amos Russel Wells

The skipper of the Mary Ann, a jolly chap is he;
With jaunty jest and merriment he gayly sails the sea.
He knows no navigation and he missed his course a mile,
But said, “It doesn’t matter, so long as I can smile.”
He ran against an island, and he almost sank the ship—
“Well, never mind!” he brightly said, “we’ll have a cheerful trip.”

He did not see the gathering storm, but roared a sprightly song.
“O sailors, keep a-singing, and the way will not be long!”
The tempest blew him eastward and the tempest blew him west;
Whatever way he travelled, he liked that way the best.
He lost his course entirely, but he never lost his grin;
Said he, “The bark of laughter is the ship to travel in!”
And somewhere on the ocean, from the tropics to the pole,
The storms are still a-buffeting that optimistic soul.
He knows no navigation, but “What’s the odds?” asks he,
“So long as I am sailing on the top side of the sea?”
In every peril he’ll lend you aid.
Your pilot through Jordan’s waves he’ll be.
Follow him closely and be not afraid!

4. A Sailor Bold

       by Annette Wynne

Sometimes I think I’d like to roam,
A sailor bold across the sea,
But how could Mother stay at home
And be so very far from me?
For who would sing my sleepy song,
And tuck me in my sailor bed,
And say God watches all night long,

And kiss me when my prayers are said?
I wonder if the sailor lad
Is very, very lonely when
The loud wind blows; and is he sad,
And does he long for home again?
So, after all, I would not roam,
Until I’m eight to seas afar,
While I am seven I’ll stay at home
Where Mother and her kisses are.

5. A Gray Day

       by Ruby Archer

The cordage creaks and the sails all strain,
The deck is drenched with the rushing rain,
The waves leap strong at the struggling keel,
And the ship rides madly with plunge and reel.
But the sailors shout as they haul away,
And merrily sing, for its naught care they
For the wind that screams on the lee,
Or a gray day out at sea.

6. Going to the Moon

       by Earl Graham

I’m going to the moon tonight
in a boat with big white sails
and you can come too if you want too
just the two of us
in a boat with big white sails
going to the moon
we’ll sit real close and huggle to keep warm
and I’ll sing for you if you want me too

7. Captain Lean

       by Walter De la Mare

Out of the East a hurricane
Swept down on Captain Lean—
That mariner and gentleman
Will never again be seen.
He sailed his ship against the foes
Of his own country dear,
But now in the trough of the billows
An aimless course doth steer.
Powder was violets to his nostrils,
Sweet the din of the fighting-line,
Now he is flotsam on the seas,
And his bones are bleached with brine.
The stars move up along the sky,
The moon she shines so bright,
And in that solitude the foam
Sparkles unearthly white.
This is the tomb of Captain Lean,
Would a straiter please his soul?
I trow he sleeps in peace,
Howsoever the billows roll!

8. The Trinity Within

       by Anonymous

Self-discovery, a path beauteous
The table’s laid, everything’s ready made
When aligned with voice of conscience righteous
Bliss fills us as a consciousness upgrade
Ensconced in rapture thus, by day and night
Our attention is soon internalised
Wisdom downloads follow, clear is our sight
In timeless time, God within’s realised
Love, wisdom and power to co-create
The threefold flame of Christ within us glows
Soul presence celebrates at heaven’s gate
There’s no doubt, for we’re in the boat God rows
Oh hermit, know that we’re he, who we seek
God in-dwells within ~ let’s take a sneak peek

Funny Sailor Poems

Sailors are known for their humor and wit, and funny sailor poems capture this playful spirit. These funny poems about sailor are full of puns, jokes, and lighthearted observations that will make readers smile and laugh.

1. Shore Life for Old Sailor

       by Jan Oskar Hansen

I found a sweet shop in the middle of nowhere, bought a box
Of Swiss chocolate took my sack of hay given to me by a kind
Farmer so I could make a mattress. Now I sleep on top of
The big kitchen table for fear of rats, with only a horse blanket
Between me and hard old oak. The candy seller’s daughter is
Getting married to her own image, a gilded mirror. Last night
I fell off the table dreamed I was back at sea and the ship was
Pitching and rolling; bet I gave the rats a fright.
I went to the wedding of the candy man’s daughter, it was
a sweet affair, colurful bonbons rained from the roof and
The priest looked as he was on a sugar rush, he cried when
She tenderly kissed the looking glass.
Things are looking up for me too, the farmer gave me another
Sack of hay and a rat catching terrier. I never made a mattress,
Gave the fodder to a starving mule. I sleep in a hammock and
It carries my dreams across many oceans.

2. Sailor Boys

       by Rocky Swartzfager

The sailor boys all play fun games
It was cute to see them get dames.
Some would get a kiss,
While others would miss,
Not even getting their names.

3. Sailor Bill and the Pelican

       by John Williams

Sailor Bill decided to sail
Around the world where others had failed,
With him his trusted right hand man,
Cedric, the pelican.
Cedric would give him plenty of warning
When the seas looked like storming,
He’d flap his wings and do some squawking
Similar to as if the pelican was talking.
When there was no food on the table,
This smart bird was very able
To fly from the ship and catch some fish,
Then serve them up in sailor Bill’s dish.
Alas the pair were know well
At ports of call where the ocean swell,
They always seemed to be having fun,
Sailor Bill and his crew of one.

4. Silly Sailor

       by Joanna Davis

Once a silly sailor,
sat upon a ship
Drank a barrel of rum;
thought he’d take a dip
Looked left and right.
then over starboard side
Saw a hump back whale
so he asked him for a ride
‘No!’ Said the whale,
I’ve far too much to do
to spend time wasting
with a sailor as silly as you!

5. Drunken Sailor

       by Vince Suzadail Jr.

I heard Congress was spending money like a drunken sailor
And I thought this was disrespectful
Congress spends like they are obsessed
For the future they’re neglectful
It’s disrespectful to drunken sailors
It is totally wrong what they say
Drunken sailors never spent
Assuming their grandchildren would pay
I was once a drunken sailor
And you know what’s really funny
I always stopped spending
Whenever I ran out of money
Congress are elitist bastards
So let this story be known
When drunken sailors spent that money
They only spent their own.
Congress has no conscience
Part of the political machines
They can spell Integrity
But they don’t know what it means
I’d rather be a drunken sailor
And spend only what I amass
Than to spend it like a congressman
And be a horse’s (OH!! You know what I mean)

6. The Shipwrecked Sailor

       by Rudolph Rinaldi

The shipwrecked sailor
from the North
lands on land
between the seas
and sees
nothing but trees
the trees shade him from the sun
in the sky
the sky provides a medium
in which the birds
from the trees
can fly
and the birds
nested in the trees
on occasion
provide the sailor
birds to fry
unfortunately
the shipwrecked sailor
after his bird meal
and nap
still can’t fly

7. Show Me the Funny – A Sailor Went to See See See

       by Sidney Beck

In Vladivostok, that’s a lot colder than Britain,
While my sub was in dock refittin’
After six months of sea-trials unremittin’,
I went to a burlesque show, of sailors befittin’.
In the crowds of fur-clad men sittin’,
I became a participant unwittin’
In a strangely familiar art-form, omittin’
No item of clothing and not quittin’.
She was one communist sex-kitten.
This girl unpeeled right down to her mitten:
Pink flesh was blue because it was frost-bitten –
Gave a new meaning to blue-movies yet unwritten.
All of a sudden I was smitten:
I saw her beauty was real fittin’
And thanks to stage lights she was well-litten.
It was my wife! – and her image was spittin’!
The last time I caught her, she promised she was quittin’!

8. Sailing Beyond Seas

       by Jean Ingelow

Methought the stars were blinking bright,
And the old brig’s sails unfurled;
I said, “I will sail to my love this night
At the other side of the world.”
I stepped aboard, – we sailed so fast, –
The sun shot up from the bourne;
But a dove that perched upon the mast
Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn.
O fair dove! O fond dove!
And dove with the white breast,
Let me alone, the dream is my own,
And my heart is full of rest.

My true love fares on this great hill,
Feeding his sheep for aye;
I looked in his hut, but all was still,
My love was gone away.
I went to gaze in the forest creek,
And the dove mourned on apace;
No flame did flash, nor fair blue reek
Rose up to show me his place.
O last love! O first love!
My love with the true heart,
To think I have come to this your home,
And yet – we are apart!

My love! He stood at my right hand,
His eyes were grave and sweet.
Methought he said, “In this far land,
O, is it thus we meet!
Ah, maid most dear, I am not here;
I have no place, – no part, –
No dwelling more by sea or shore,
But only in thy heart.”
O fair dove! O fond dove!
Till night rose over the bourne,
The dove on the mast, as we sailed fast,
Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn.

Inspirational Sailor Poems

These inspirational poems about sailor offer a sense of hope and optimism, reminding readers that anything is possible with determination and courage.

1. Sailing Through Moonlight

       by Anonymous

Into your arms
the moon’s blood
pours silently
a silvered heart
caressing waves
with its beat
The blessings
of a warm wind
bring the scent
of an island
the breath of spices
and pilot whales,
baby squid
chasing plankton
trailing phosphor
in their wake
You are constant,
an enemy and friend
always indifferent,
eager to love or betray
to smile or to frown
at a moment’s notice
on your whim
And many times
I have witnessed
the depths of your rage
the bare savagery
of your soul
knowing you have no mind
for even the humblest
of all these creatures
here tonight

2. Estrella

       by L.L. Barkat

Sometimes when the night comes on
and Venus rises bright over the river,
I think I can see a boat floating white
in the mist, and my heart opens
with a fainting motion, laying back
on its bed of flesh.
Oh, to see the boat, going its way
towards the great, unfathomable sea.

3. Journey

       by Sara Barkat

The sails unfurl
the cries ring in the air,
the ship is on the waves of curls.
Ship rides o’er seas of pearl
while dragon rests in lair,
the sails unfurl.
Setting off to lands of kings and earls
the sailors eat some pears,
the ship is on the waves of curls.
One seaman’s known to love a girl
one boy climbs up a mount, on dare,
the sails unfurl.

4. Let Us Sail at Sunset

       by Anonymous

let us sail together at sunset
into a tangerine sky,
may we cast our sail together
on this journey you and I,
meet the sunrise again on a distant shore
sail the ocean’s highway as lovers evermore

5. As If the Sea Should Part

       by Emily Dickinson

“As if the Sea should part
And show a further Sea
And that—a further—and the Three
But a presumption be
Of Periods of Seas
Unvisited of Shores
Themselves the Verge of Seas to be
Eternity—is Those”

6. The Sailing of the Long-Ships

       by Henry John Newbolt

They saw the cables loosened, they saw the gangways cleared,
They heard the women weeping, they heard the men that cheered;
Far off, far off, the tumult faded and died away,
And all alone the sea-wind came singing up the Bay.

“I came by Cape St. Vincent, I came by Trafalgar,
I swept from Torres Vedras to golden Vigo Bar,
I saw the beacons blazing that fired the world with light
When down their ancient highway your fathers passed to fight.

“O race of tireless fighters, flushed with a youth renewed,
Right well the wars of Freedom befit the Sea-kings’ brood;
Yet as ye go forget not the fame of yonder shore,
The fame ye owe your fathers and the old time before.

“Long-suffering were the Sea-kings, they were not swift to kill,
But when the sands had fallen they waited no man’s will;
Though all the world forbade them, they counted not nor cared,
They weighed not help or hindrance, they did the thing they dared.

“The Sea-kings loved not boasting, they cursed not him that cursed,
They honoured all men duly, and him that faced them, first;
They strove and knew not hatred, they smote and toiled to save,
They tended whom they vanquished, they praised the fallen brave.

“Their fame’s on Torres Vedras, their fame’s on Vigo Bar,
Far-flashed to Cape St. Vincent it burns from Trafalgar;
Mark as ye go the beacons that woke the world with light
When down their ancient highway your fathers passed to fight.”

7. A Life of a Sail

       by Joseph T. Renaldi

I envision the life of a sailor,
A ship on the ocean deep,
Violent winds blowing wildly,
Where raging waves seem to leap.
Like an animal caged, I yearn
On this listless, immutable shore,
Oh! give me the impregnated water,
The storm’s roar and spray galore,
Sailing through the ocean waves
Like an albatross set free,
Like an albatross, my home
I’ll find on the remote sea.

Once more I humbly stand
On the deck of a prominent ship,
Ahoy! so long to the shore,
As the mooring chain begins to slip.
The shoreline no longer visible,
The dark clouds showing displeasure,
A sturdy ship and seafaring mates
Challenging the unpredictable weather.
Now, the desire of my soul shall always be,
Though the ire of the tempest will rage –
To seek a home on the scattering water,
And a performance on the ocean stage.

Short Sailor Poems

Sometimes the simplest poems can be the most powerful. Short poetries about sailor capture the essence of the sailor’s life in just a few lines, evoking the sights, sounds, and emotions of the sea.

1. Summertime Fun

       by Anna M Shepard

Summertime schools out
Reunions barbeques friends
Sailing surfing fun

2. Rapturous

       by Shane Cooper

Birds
Soaring
Swooping low
Sailing on air
Wings

3. Sailing Leaf

       by Madeleine Mclaughlin

a leaf falls
the water ripples
nature’s boat sails away

4. To the Clouds

       by Nadine Fababier

Pillows on the sky
Fading fast oh snowy clouds!
Like our lives…sailing

5. Sailing to-Night

       by Anonymous

There’s a ship on the sea. It is sailing to-night—
Sailing to-night;—
And father’s aboard, and the moon is all bright—
Shining and bright.
Dear Moon, he’ll be sailing for many a night—
Sailing from mother and me;
Oh, follow the ship with your silvery light,
As father sails over the sea!

6. Bright Lavender Leaves

       by Gregory Golden

sharing the wind
sailing again
the bright
lavender leaves

7. A Nature Haiky for Once

       by Anthony Souls

Leaves fall one by one
onto the shadowy pond
sailing in heaven

8. Leaving

       by Jacqueline Tuffnell

I watch the
day leave
as I would
observe
a ship
sailing out
to sea.

Long Sailor Poems

Long poetries about sailor take readers on an extended journey, painting vivid pictures of life at sea and the many experiences that come with it. These poems explore the depths of the sailor’s soul, revealing the joys and sorrows of a life spent on the ocean.

1. The Mariner’s Dream

       by William Dimond

In slumbers of midnight the sailor boy lay;
His hammock swung loose at the sport of the wind;
But watch-worn and weary, his cares flew away,
And visions of happiness danced o’er his mind.
He dreamed of his home, of his dear native bowers,
And pleasures that waited on life’s merry morn;
While Memory each scene gayly covered with flowers,
And restored every rose, but secreted the thorn.
Then Fancy her magical pinions spread wide,
And bade the young dreamer in ecstasy rise;
Now, far, far behind him the green waters glide,
And the cot of his forefathers blesses his eyes.
The jessamine clambers in flowers o’er the thatch,
And the swallow chirps sweet from her nest in the wall;
All trembling with transport, he raises the latch,
And the voices of loved ones reply to his call.
A father bends o’er him with looks of delight;
His cheek is impearled with a mother’s warm tear;
And the lips of the boy in a love kiss unite
With the lips of the maid whom his bosom holds dear.
The heart of the sleeper beats high in his breast;
Joy quickens his pulses,—all his hardships seem o’er;
And a murmur of happiness steals through his rest,—
“O God! thou hast blest me,—I ask for no more.”
Ah! whence is that flame which now bursts on his eye?
Ah! what is that sound that now ‘larums his ear?
‘T is the lightning’s red glare painting hell on the sky!
‘T is the crashing of thunders, the groan of the sphere!
He springs from his hammock,—he flies to the deck;
Amazement confronts him with images dire;
Wild winds and mad waves drive the vessel a wreck;
The masts fly in splinters; the shrouds are on fire.
Like mountains the billows tremendously swell;
In vain the lost wretch calls on Mercy to save;
Unseen hands of spirits are ringing his knell,
And the death angel flaps his broad wings o’er the wave!
O sailor boy, woe to thy dream of delight!
In darkness dissolves the gay frostwork of bliss!
Where now is the picture that Fancy touched bright,—
Thy parents’ fond pressure, and love’s honeyed kiss?
O sailor boy! sailor boy! never again
Shall home, love, or kindred, thy wishes repay;
Unblessed and unhonored, down deep in the main,
Full many a fathom, thy frame shall decay.
No tomb shall e’er plead to remembrance for thee,
Or redeem form or fame from the merciless surge;
But the white foam of waves shall thy winding sheet be,
And winds in the midnight of winter thy dirge.
On a bed of green sea flowers thy limbs shall be laid,—
Around thy white bones the red coral shall grow;
Of thy fair yellow locks threads of amber be made,
And every part suit to thy mansion below.
Days, months, years, and ages shall circle away,
And still the vast waters above thee shall roll;
Earth loses thy pattern forever and aye;
O sailor boy! sailor boy! peace to thy soul!

2. The Sailor’s Appeal

       by Lydia Howard Sigourney

Ye dwellers on the stable land,
Of danger what know ye,
Like us who brave the whelming surge,
Or trust the treacherous sea?
The fair trees shade you from the sun,
You see the harvests grow,
And breathe the fragrance of the breeze
When the first roses blow.
You slumber on your beds of down,
Close wrapp’d in chambers warm,
Lull’d only to a deeper dream
By the descending storm;
While high amid the slippery shroud
We make our midnight path,
And e’en the strongest mast is bow’d
Beneath the tempest’s wrath.
Yet still, what know ye of the joy
That lights our ocean-strife,
When on its way our gallant ship
Rides like a thing of life;
When gayly towards the wish’d-for port
With favouring wind we stand,
Or first your misty line descry,
Hills of our native land!
There’s deadly peril in our path
Beyond the wrecking blast,
A peril that may reach the soul
When life’s short voyage is past;
Send us your Bibles when we go
To dare the whelming wave,
Your men of prayer, to teach us how
To meet a watery grave.
And, Saviour! thou whose foot sublime
The foaming surge did tread,
Whose hand the rash disciple drew
From darkness and the dead,
Oh! be our Ark when floods descend,
When thunders shake the spheres,
Our Ararat when tempests end,
And the green earth appears.

3. Sea-Boy

       by Lydia Sigourney

“Up the main-top-mast, ho!”
The storm was loud,
And the deep midnight muffled up her head,
Leaving no ray.
By the red binnacle,
I saw the sea-boy. His young cheek was pale,
And his lips trembled. But he dar’d not hear
That hoarse command repeated. So he sprang,
With slender foot amid the slippery shrouds.
He, oft by moonlight watch, had lur’d my car,
With everlasting stories of his home,
And of his mother. His fair brow told tales
Of household kisses, and of gentle hands
That bound it when it ached, and laid it down
On the soft pillow, with a curtaining care.
And he had sometimes spoken of the cheer
That waited him, when, wearied from his school,
At winter’s eve, he came. Then, he would pause,
For his high beating bosom threw a chain
O’er his proud lips, or else he would have sigh’d,
In deep remorse, for leaving such a home.
And he would haste away, and pace the deck,
More rapidly, as if to hide from me,
The gushing tear. I mark’d the inward strife
Unquestioning, save by a silent prayer
That the tear wrung so bitterly, might work
The sea-boy’s good, and wash away all trace
Of disobedience. Now, the same big tear
Hung like a pearl upon him, as he climb’d
And grappled to the mast.
I watch’d his toil,
With strange foreboding, till he seem’d a speck
Upon the ebon bosom of the cloud.
And I remember’d that he once had said,
“I fear I shall not see my home again:”
And sad the memory of those mournful words,
Dwelt with me, as he pass’d above my sight,
Into thick darkness.
The wild blast swept on.
The strong ship toss’d.
Shuddering, I heard a plunge,
A heavy plunge,—a gurgling ‘mid the wave.
I shouted to the crew. In vain! In vain!
The ship held on her way. And never more
Shall that poor, delicate sea-boy raise his head,
To do the bidding of those roughen’d men,
Whose home is on the sea.
And never more
May his fond mother strain him to her breast,
Weeping that hardship thus should bronze the brow,
To her so beautiful, nor the kind sire
Make glad by his forgiveness, the rash youth
Who wander’d from his home, to throw the wealth
Of his warm feelings on the faithless sea.

4. The Pilot Lost

       by Hannah Flagg Gould

Mariners! mariners, what will ye do?
The distant, fathomless deep ye’ve crossed.
Your rock-bound coast has risen to view;
And what will ye do? for your Pilot’s lost.
He, who had hastened through surge and foam,
And reef and shallow so freely passed,
To bring your ship with a welcome home,
Your faithful Pilot is gone at last!
His trusty boat has her trust betrayed!
Her master has done with the sail and oar.
And he, low under the waves is laid,
Who guided his thousands safe to shore.
He took his life in his friendly hand,
When venturing forth your lives to save.
To bring you again to your native land,
He hurried himself to a watery grave.
On earth’s broad bosom no verdant turf
Was marked for him in his final rest.
The deep green sea and her curling surf
Have pillowed his head and wrapped his breast!
The waves o’er which he would lightly skim,
When many a peril for you was run,
Are sounding a requiem over him,
And wailing the sorrowful deed they’ve done.
With the heart of a brother, an eagle’s eye,
And a pilot’s hand, when the heavens are dark,

And blast and billow are strong and high,
Who will now come to your wildered bark?
O, there is One, who the deep can smooth,
And hush the winds, who will still be nigh!
Listen! your trembling hearts he’ll soothe,
With ‘Mariners, be of good cheer—’t is I.’
Trust him while crossing life’s stormy sea.

5. Look Honey the Dolphins Are Smiling

       by Anonymous

A few glasses of wine is all it takes
to get me thinking about
sail boats again
In the movies
the ocean is always so blue
with barely a cloud in the sky
the boats drift on by effortlessly
pretty sails set so clean and white
and wherever you look there are dolphins
smiling
Drinks never get spilled
the wind is always on time
and the sweetest girls in bikini bottoms
just love to do all the work
so you can lounge around on cushions
wearing a hat that makes you feel
more important than you are
as you smile graciously
with the dolphins
Sure there’ll be times
when the sea gets a sulk on
and isn’t refusing to cooperate
every woman’s right…
but that second refill makes me wonder
Maybe I’m not too old
to climb the mast
when something expensive falls off
Not too old
to scramble on deck
when the anchor drags
in the middle of the night
Not too old
to cheat death on the rocks
or rescue canoeists in distress
Not too old
to fight off pirates and smuggle a case or two
Not too old
for those sweetest girls in bikini bottoms
still making me smile
like a dolphin
Then I remember
steering from the womb of the mother of all storms
nothing to eat and no sleep for three nights straight
the banshee wind howling in my eyes
I have no choice but to pee inside my pants
and no amount of Hail Mary’s full of grace
ever makes that fear smell sweeter
The dolphins stopped smiling then
they’d all hurried home to hide
before the growlers could hunt me out
tossing my puny world upside down
and only because I was fool enough
plain crazy enough
to be there
But I know every storm has an end
and if you live or die
the sea won’t give a damn either way
I’m drinking to that now
before I check out the boats for sale along the quay  
trying just a bit harder
to celebrate
dry land

6. The Fisher’s Wife

       by Susan Rhyce Beckwith

Lonely, desponding—the gathering gloom
Slowly filling the quiet room—
Sits the fisher’s wife, with disheveled hair;—
What does she see in the darkness there?
Outside, the breakers, with sullen dash
Fling high their spray to the window-sash,
That, by the fitful gleams of the moonlight thrown,
Seems like prison-bars on her floor of stone.
On this same night, ten years before,
While the angry sea lashed the rock-bound shore,
She, anxiously watching, trimmed her light;—
And the waves were cold, and the moon was bright.
“Set the light, my lass, by the cottage door,”
Said the fisher that morn as he sought the shore;
“The moon will be up when I come to-night;
Her wake once crossed, I shall be all right.”
With earnest eye, since the waning day,
She had followed the moon in her upward way,
And her quivering wake on the midnight sea,
If there the looked-for boat might be.
‘Mong the rocks, where shadows so darksomely hide,
Where the sea-foam that wreathed them was gone with the tide
With tight’ning hands o’er the sickening heart,
With blanching cheek, and lips apart—
Like a statue she stood, so cold and white,
Searching, but vainly, into the night.
A tiny form with outstretched hands,
And pink feet glancing among the sands,
And a baby voice—”Mamma, mamma!”
But the merciless sea, shock after shock,
Assaulting the solid towering rock
With fearful echoes, re-echoing far,
Swallows the cry;
Did’st thou hear it not?
There’s a desolate heart and an empty cot.
And that little form, uncoffined and white,
Revealed by the gleams of the pale moonlight,
As pulseless it lay on the surf-washed shore,
Shall rest on her memory evermore.
‘Tis this she sees in that quiet room,
Where all is wrapped in the gathering gloom;
And alone—God help her! she sits apart,
With folded hands and a broken heart!

7. The Wanderer

       by The Wanderer

ALL day they loitered by the resting ships,
Telling their beauties over, taking stock;
At night the verdict left my messmate’s lips,
“The Wanderer is the finest ship in dock.”

I had not seen her, but a friend, since drowned,
Drew her, with painted ports, low, lovely, lean,
Saying, “The Wanderer, clipper, outward bound,
The loveliest ship my eyes have ever seen–

“Perhaps to-morrow you will see her sail.
 
She sails at sunrise”: but the morrow showed
No Wanderer setting forth for me to hail;
Far down the stream men pointed where she rode,

Rode the great trackway to the sea, dim, dim,
Already gone before the stars were gone.
 
I saw her at the sea-line’s smoky rim
Grow swiftly vaguer as they towed her on.
 

Soon even her masts were hidden in the haze
Beyond the city; she was on her course
To trample billows for a hundred days;
That afternoon the northerner gathered force,

Blowing a small snow from a point of east.
 
“Oh, fair for her,” we said, “to take her south.”

And in our spirits, as the wind increased,
We saw her there, beyond the river mouth,

Setting her side-lights in the wildering dark,
To glint upon mad water, while the gale
Roared like a battle, snapping like a shark,
And drunken seamen struggled with the sail.

While with sick hearts her mates put out of mind
Their little children, left astern, ashore,
And the gale’s gathering made the darkness’ blind,
Water and air one intermingled roar.

Then we forgot her, for the fiddlers played,
Dancing and singing held our merry crew;
The old ship moaned a little as she swayed.

It blew all night, oh, bitter hard it blew!

So that at midnight I was called on deck
To keep an anchor-watch: I heard the sea
Roar past in white procession filled with wreck;
Intense bright stars burned frosty over me,

And the Greek brig beside us dipped and dipped,
White to the muzzle like a half-tide rock,
Drowned to the mainmast with the seas she shipped;
Her cable-swivels clanged at every shock.

And like a never-dying force, the wind
Roared till we shouted with it, roared until
Its vast virality of wrath was thinned,
Had beat its fury breathless and was still.

By dawn the gale had dwindled into flaw,
A glorious morning followed: with my friend
I climbed the fo’c’s’le-head to see; we saw
The waters hurrying shoreward without end.

Haze blotted out the river’s lowest reach;
Out of the gloom the steamers, passing by,
Called with their sirens, hooting their sea-speech;
Out of the dimness others made reply.

And as we watched, there came a rush of feet
Charging the fo’c’s’le till the hatchway shook.

Men all about us thrust their way, or beat,
Crying, “Wanderer! Down the river! Look!”

I looked with them towards the dimness; there
Gleamed like a spirit striding out of night,
A full-rigged ship unutterably fair,
Her masts like trees in winter, frosty-bright.

Foam trembled at her bows like wisps of wool;
She trembled as she towed.
 I had not dreamed
That work of man could be so beautiful,
In its own presence and in what it seemed.


“So, she is putting back again,” I said.

“How white with frost her yards are on the fore.”

One of the men about me answer made,
“That is not frost, but all her sails are tore,

“Torn into tatters, youngster, in the gale;
Her best foul-weather suit gone.” It was true,
Her masts were white with rags of tattered sail
Many as gannets when the fish are due.

Beauty in desolation was her pride,
Her crowned array a glory that had been;
She faltered tow’rds us like a swan that died,
But altogether ruined she was still a queen.

“Put back with all her sails gone,” went the word;
Then, from her signals flying, rumor ran,
“The sea that stove her boats in killed her third;
She has been gutted and has lost a man.”

So, as though stepping to a funeral march,
She passed defeated homewards whence she came,
Ragged with tattered canvas white as starch,
A wild bird that misfortune had made tame.

She was refitted soon: another took
The dead man’s office; then the singers hove
Her capstan till the snapping hawsers shook;
Out, with a bubble at her bows, she drove.
 

Again they towed her seawards, and again
We, watching, praised her beauty, praised her trim,
Saw her fair house-flag flutter at the main,
And slowly saunter seawards, dwindling dim;

And wished her well, and wondered, as she died,
How, when her canvas had been sheeted home,
Her quivering length would sweep into her stride,
Making the greenness milky with her foam.

But when we rose next morning, we discerned
Her beauty once again a shattered thing;
Towing to dock the Wanderer returned,
A wounded sea-bird with a broken wing.

A spar was gone, her rigging’s disarray
Told of a worse disaster than the last;
Like draggled hair dishevelled hung the stay,
Drooping and beating on the broken mast.

Half-mast upon her flagstaff hung her flag;
Word went among us how the broken spar
Had gored her captain like an angry stag,
And killed her mate a half-day from the bar.

She passed to dock along the top of flood.
 
An old man near me shook his head and swore:
“Like a bad woman, she has tasted blood–
There’ll be no trusting in her any more.”

We thought it truth, and when we saw her there
Lying in dock, beyond, across the stream,
We would forget that we had called her fair,
We thought her murderess and the past a dream.

And when she sailed again, we watched in awe,
Wondering what bloody act her beauty planned,
What evil lurked behind the thing we saw,
What strength there was that thus annulled man’s hand,

How next its triumph would compel man’s will
Into compliance with external fate,
How next the powers would use her to work ill
On suffering men; we had not long to wait.
 
For soon the outcry of derision rose,
“Here comes the Wanderer!” the expected cry.
 
Guessing the cause, our mockings joined with those
Yelled from the shipping as they towed her by.

She passed us close, her seamen paid no heed
To what was called: they stood, a sullen group,
Smoking and spitting, careless of her need,
Mocking the orders given from the poop.

Her mates and boys were working her; we stared.
 
What was the reason of this strange return,
This third annulling of the thing prepared?
No outward evil could our eyes discern.

Only like one who having formed a plan
Beyond the pitch of common minds, she sailed,
Mocked and deserted by the common man,
Made half divine to me for having failed.
 

We learned the reason soon: below the town
A stay had parted like a snapping reed,
“Warning,” the men thought, “not to take her down.”

They took the omen, they would not proceed.
 
Days passed before another crew would sign.
 
The Wanderer lay in dock alone, unmanned,
Feared as a thing possessed by powers malign,
Bound under curses not to leave the land.

But under passing Time fear passes too;
That terror passed, the sailors’ hearts grew bold.
 
We learned in time that she had found a crew
And was bound out southwards as of old.

And in contempt we thought, “A little while
Will bring her back again, dismantled, spoiled.
 
It is herself; she cannot change her style;
She has the habit now of being foiled.”

So when a ship appeared among the haze,
We thought, “The Wanderer back again”; but no,
No Wanderer showed for many, many days,
Her passing lights made other waters glow.

But we would oft think and talk of her,
Tell newer hands her story, wondering, then,
Upon what ocean she was Wanderer,
Bound to the cities built by foreign men.


And one by one our little conclave thinned,
Passed into ships and sailed and so away,
To drown in some great roaring of the wind,
Wanderers themselves, unhappy fortune’s prey.
 
And Time went by me making memory dim,
Yet still I wondered if the Wanderer fared
Still pointing to the unreached ocean’s rim,
Brightening the water where her breast was bared.

And much in ports abroad I eyed the ships,
Hoping to see her well-remembered form
Come with a curl of bubbles at her lips
Bright to her berth, the sovereign of the storm.
 
I never did, and many years went by,
Then, near a Southern port, one Christmas Eve,
I watched a gale go roaring through the sky,
Making the cauldrons of clouds upheave.
 
Then the wrack tattered and the stars appeared,
Millions of stars that seemed to speak in fire;
A byre cock cried aloud that morning neared,
The swinging wind-vane flashed upon the spire.

And soon men looked upon a glittering earth,
Intensely sparkling like a world new-born;
Only to look was spiritual birth,
So bright the raindrops ran along the thorn

So bright they were, that one could almost pass
Beyond their twinkling to the source, and know
The glory pushing in the blade of grass,
That hidden soul which makes the flowers grow.

That soul was there apparent, not revealed,
Unearthly meanings covered every tree,
That wet grass grew in an immortal field,
Those waters fed some never-wrinkled sea.

The scarlet berries in the hedge stood out
Like revelations but the tongue unknown;
Even in the brooks a joy was quick: the trout
Rushed in a dumbness dumb to me alone.

All of the valley was loud with brooks;
I walked the morning, breasting up the fells,
Taking again lost childhood from the rooks,
Whose cawing came above the Christmas bells.

I had not walked that glittering world before,
But up the hill a prompting came to me,
“This line of upland runs along the shore:
Beyond the hedgerow I shall see the sea.”

And on the instant from beyond away
The long familiar sound, a ship’s bell, broke
The hush below me in the unseen bay.
 
Old memories came, that inner prompting spoke.

And bright above the hedge a seagull’s wings
Flashed and were steady upon empty air.
 
“A Power unseen,” I cried, “prepares these things;
Those are her bells, the Wanderer is there.
“

So, hurrying to the hedge and looking down,
I saw a mighty bay’s wind-crinkled blue
Ruffling the image of a tranquill town,
With lapsing waters glimmering as they grew.

And near me in the road the shipping swung,
So stately and so still in such a great peace
That like to drooping crests their colors hung,
Only their shadows trembled without cease.
 
I did but glance upon these anchored ships.
 
Even as my thought had told, I saw her plain;
Tense, like a supple athlete with lean hips,
Swiftness at pause, the Wanderer come again–

Come as of old a queen, untouched by Time,
Resting the beauty that no seas could tire,
Sparkling, as though the midnight’s rain were rime,
Like a man’s thought transfigured into fire,

And as I looked, one of her men began
To sing some simple tune of Christmas day;
Among her crew the song spread, man to man,
Until the singing rang across the bay;

And soon in other anchored ships the men
Joined in the singing with clear throats, until
The farm-boy heard it up the windy glen,
Above the noise of sheep-bells on the hill.

Over the water came the lifted song–
Blind pieces in a mighty game we sing;
Life’s battle is a conquest for the strong;
The meaning shows in the defeated thing.

Sailor Poems That Rhyme

Poems about sailor with rhyming words have a musical quality that echoes the rhythms of the sea. These poems use rhyme and meter to create a sense of harmony and balance, capturing the natural cadences of the sailor’s life.

1. A Sailor Ballad

       by Ruby Archer

Oh, tie your knot with a tug and twist,
And never a careless bend,
Look out for strands that you may have missed,
And never leave a loose end.
In law or love will the ruling hold:
If trouble away you’d fend,
Be careful ever, and often bold,
But never leave a loose end.
The lag or slip of a rope will give
A loop that you can’t defend.
You’ll hate yourself as long as you live—
Oh, never leave a loose end!
Some other fellow as quick as thought
Will do what you cannot mend—
Untie your luck or your true-love knot,—
So never leave a loose end.

2. Dover Beach

       by Matthew Arnold

“The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay….
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.”

3. The Homing

       by John Jerome Rooney

Admiral, Admiral, sailing home—
Sailing home through the far, dim seas,
Know you the sound that over the foam
Rises and sinks in the sunset breeze?
Know you the thrill and know you the start
That pulses and runs through the wind and the spray,
Pulses and runs from a nation’s heart
To meet you and greet you over the way?
Not for the might of your guns alone,
Thundering doom by the Eastern gate;
Not for the bugle of victory blown,—
Not for these do we watch and wait!
The glory is sweet—ay, sweet to the soul
Of a people proud in the pride of youth,
But sweeter to know, as the seasons roll,
Our men, as of old, are men in truth!

4. Where I Want to Go

       by Daniel Turner

I’d love to buy a boat and sail the seas
Just loaf and let the string of life unwind
Drop anchor anytime or place I please
To visit every island I can find
I’d sail from cape to cape, from gulf to strait
Each bay and channel up and down each coast
My dog would be companion and first mate
Most likely, he’d be sleeping at his post
But every night we’d find a still lagoon
Perhaps we row ashore and build a fire
On first appearance, I’d harpoon the moon
And hold him hostage until we retired
A life at sea, beneath large wind filled sails
With peaceful friends, the dolphins, gulls and whales

5. Donald

       by Henry Abbey

O white, white, light moon, that sailest in the sky,
Look down upon the whirling world, for thou art up so high,
And tell me where my Donald is who sailed across the sea,
And make a path of silver light to lead him back to me.
O white, white, bright moon, thy cheek is coldly fair;
A little cloud beside thee seems thy wildly floating hair;
And if thou wouldst not have me wan, and pale, and cold like thee,
Go, make a mighty tide to draw my Donald back to me.
O light, white, bright moon, that dost so fondly shine,
There is not a lily in the world but hides its face from thine:
I too shall go and hide my face close in the dust from thee,
Unless with light and tide thou bring my Donald back to me.

6. A Life on the Ocean Wave

       by Epes Sargent

A life on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deep,
Where the scattered waters rave,
And the winds their revels keep:
Like an eagle caged, I pine
On this dull, unchanging shore:
Oh! give me the flashing brine,
The spray and the tempest’s roar!
Once more on the deck I stand
Of my own swift-gliding craft:
Set sail! farewell to the land!
The gale follows fair abaft.
We shoot through the sparkling foam
Like an ocean bird set free;—
Like the ocean bird, our home
We’ll find far out on the sea.
The land is no longer in view,
The clouds have begun to frown;
But with a stout vessel and crew,
We’ll say, Let the storm come down!
And the song of our hearts shall be,
While the winds and the waters rave,
A home on the rolling sea!
A life on the ocean wave!

7. O Captain! My Captain

       by Walt Whitman

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

8. Never Weather-Beaten Sail

       by Thomas Campion

Never weather-beaten sail more willing bent to shore,
Never tirèd pilgrim’s limbs affected slumber more,
Than my wearied sprite now longs to fly out of my troubled breast.
O come quickly, sweetest Lord, and take my soul to rest!

Ever blooming are the joys of heaven’s high Paradise,
Cold age deafs not there our ears nor vapour dims our eyes:
Glory there the sun outshines; whose beams the blessèd only see.
O come quickly, glorious Lord, and raise my sprite to Thee!

Sailor Poems for Children

These sailor poems for kids are playful and imaginative, inviting young readers to explore the mysteries of the sea. Let’s read!

1. My Paper Boat

       by Abby Aaron

I used a double sheet of newspaper;
to fashion a toy vessel a paper barge with a sail.
Excited I took it to the small river;
runs near my home.
I placed it in the water;
much to my delight it floated.
I followed my creation.
As it sailed I couldn’t help thinking;
whatever floats your boat?

2. Surface Tension

       by Chelsea Rathburn

In the park, a pond aflame
with painted wooden boats
plucks us from our way
to someplace else. And though
the pond, when we draw close,
is less a pond than a low,
wide fountain, and the boats
elaborate miniatures,
toys rented by the hour
to girls in ruffles and boys
with serious faces,
we only like it more.
—How often, how needlessly,
we complicate pleasure
with the pursuit of pleasure.
So for an hour or so
we let the basin swell
sea-wide. We clamber on
the banks with the children
we are not, clapping with them
to see the sails. And when
that blue craft we’ve named ours
glides out too far for sticks
to call it back, how grateful
we are (though we know
there’s nothing really to lose)
for the breeze that we can’t feel
that sends it sailing home.

3. The Sailor’s Sweetheart

       by Duncan Campbell Scott

O if love were had for asking,
In the markets of the town,
Hardly a lass would think to wear
A fine silken gown:
But love is had by grieving
By choosing and by leaving,
And there’s no one now to ask me
If heavy lies my heart.

O if love were had for a deep wish

In the deadness of the night,
There’d be a truce to longing
Between the dusk and the light:
But love is had for sighing,
For living and for dying,
And there’s no one now to ask me
If heavy lies my heart.

O if love were had for taking
Like honey from the hive,
The bees that made the tender stuff
Could hardly keep alive:
But love it is a wounded thing,
A tremor and a smart,
And there’s no one left to kiss me now
Over my heavy heart.

4. Waiting Boats

       by Jonathan Moya

Two boats nested close
to each other on the shore
wait for those to sail them out
the tide to feel their steady hand
the wind to love their back
to love them back
to turn with the wind and turn
them back to the waiting shore

5. Bon Voyage

       by Tina Barry

We’ve gathered on the dock. Mother wears a custom-made
suit, bold black and white checks, the skirt fitted tight. My
sister and I teeter beside her, two untethered buoys, dresses
buoyant in the breeze. With her hand shading her eyes, Mother
watches the ship, a sailing city crammed with waving couples
against a white, white exterior. Bon Voyage, Bon Voyage, we cry
to friends of Mother’s, the wife barely recognizable
beneath a veiled hat. Corks burst from champagne bottles;
shrieks as the bubbling liquid pours over hands and arms. The
ship departs with an exaggerated HONK. We huddle in the back
seat of the car. Let’s pretend we’re sleeping on the
ship’s deck chairs, we whisper, and imagine the evening
growing colder. Perhaps we’d cling together, our shivering
bodies wrapped in widely-striped towels. Two girls alone on a
boat, the water black and rushing past, lips salty.

6. Rime of the Ancient Mariner

       by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
‘By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp’st thou me?

7. Photograph

       by Dave Malone

The family pontoon attempts
to usurp dominant contrast
though your twin brother sticks out
his chest like a gangster—
your father’s fedora
slopes too close to his nose.
Straight as the safety railing,
your older brother locks hands
on hips. He manages
a squint for the camera.
The boat blushes mimosa pink
to be upstaged by such a young girl
on a summer day meant for boating—
not the boasting of calves, thighs, shins,
white as cottonwood blossoms,
long as drooping pines spilling out
of timber trucks.
O those legs kill the middle,
crown themselves the dominant
and hold up the body
that’s grown into the body I love—
the same quizzical eyes
which quicken me
when the camera shutter
blinks.

The Old Sailor Poems

A sea is a place of endless stories, and poems about the old sailor capture the wisdom and experience that comes with a lifetime spent on the ocean. These poems are full of nostalgia and reflection, offering a glimpse into a life well-lived.

1. The Old Sailor

       by A. A. Milne

There was once an old sailor my grandfather knew
Who had so many things which he wanted to do
That, whenever he thought it was time to begin,
He couldn’t because of the state he was in.

He was shipwrecked, and lived on an island for weeks,

And he wanted a hat,
and he wanted some breeks;

And he wanted some nets, or a line and some hooks
For the turtles and things which you read of in books.

And, thinking of this, he remembered a thing
Which he wanted (for water) and that was a spring;
And he thought that to talk to he’d look for, and keep
(If he found it) a goat, or some chickens and sheep.

Then, because of the weather, he wanted a hut
With a door (to come in by) which opened and shut
(With a jerk, which was useful if snakes were about),
And a very strong lock to keep savages out.

He began on the fish-hooks and when he’d begun
He decided he couldn’t because of the sun.

So he knew what he ought to begin with, and that
Was to find, or to make, a large sun-stopping hat.
He was making the hat with some leaves from a tree,
When he thought, ” I’m as hot as a body can be,
And I’ve nothing to take for my terrible thirst;
So I’ll look for a spring, and I’ll look for it first . “

Then he thought as he started, ” Oh, dear and oh, dear!
I’ll be lonely to-morrow with nobody here! “
So he made in his note-book a couple of notes:
” I must first find some chickens “
and ” No, I mean goats . “

He had just seen a goat (which he knew by the shape)
When he thought, ” But I must have a boat for escape.
But a boat means a sail, which means needles and thread;
So I’d better sit down and make needles instead. “

He began on a needle, but thought as he worked,
That, if this was an island where savages lurked,
Sitting safe in his hut he’d have nothing to fear,
Whereas now they might suddenly breathe in his ear!

So he thought of his hut … and he thought of his boat,
And his hat and his breeks, and his chickens and goat,
And the hooks (for his food) and the spring (for his thirst) …
But he never could think which he ought to do first.

And so in the end he did nothing at all,
But basked on the shingle wrapped up in a shawl.
And I think it was dreadful the way he behaved —
He did nothing but basking until he was saved!

2. Safe Harbor

       by Jennifer Hickok

The storm has been raging for so long now
Pouring rain, crashing thunder, howling wind
Beating down on this lonely ship
Searching for a place to call home

There was a time; it seems so long ago
The sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky
Looking up from the bow into forever
A gentle breeze, cotton candy clouds

But the storm slowly moved in
A few scattered showers and thunderstorms
Days of downpour, flashes of lightning
With shelter so hard to find

Rainbows still shone, beacons of hope
In the unlikeliest places
Vibrant against a backdrop of gray
A glimpse at the best of times

As the years passed by
The storms changed, getting worse
Getting better, and fading away
But they’d left their mark

A vessel is forever changed
When touched that way
And although you can rebuild
The damage has been done

Horrible storms had been forecast
For the not so distant future
But they wouldn’t hit this ship
Not again, no more damage would be done

The ship will be protected now
Lost no more, tossed about no longer
Safe in a harbor to forever call home

2. The Old Sailor

       by Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

I’ve crossed the bar at last, mates,
My longest voyage is done;
And I can sit here, peaceful,
And watch th’ setting sun
A-smilin’ kind of glad like
Upon the waves so free.
My longest voyage is done, mates,
But oh, the heart of me,
Is out where sea meets skyline!
My longest voyage is done. . . .
But – can I sit, in peace, mates,
And watch the settin’ sun?

For what’s a peaceful life, mates,
When every breeze so free,
When every gale a-blowin’,
Brings messages to me?
And is the sky so shinin’,
For all it’s golden sun,
To one who loves the sea, mates,
And knows his voyage is done?
And, can a year on land, mates,
Match with one day – at sea?
Ah, every wind a-singin’
Brings memory to me!

I’ve crossed the bar at last, mates,
My longest voyage is past,
And I must watch the sunset,
Must see it fade, at last.
My steps are not so light, mates,
As they were, years ago;
And sometimes, when I’m tired,
My head droops kind of low –
Yet, though I’m old and – weary,
The waves that dance so free,
Keep callin’ to my soul, mates,
And thrill the heart of me!

3. Sailor’s Yarn

       by James McIntyre

While voyaging on northern seas
For days we could not catch a breeze,
But were held fast as if in vice
Surrounded by the bergs of ice,
We could not move the ship or boat
But on low, flat iceberg we did float;
Of provisions we took good store
With big oars we rowed the berg to shore,
And pride and joy each one feels
When we had caught ten thousand seals,
And our brave boys each one they dare
To boldly capture great white bear;
On floating berg we built with boards
A storehouse for to hold our hordes,
We had a stove and stock of coal,
So we enjoyed this voyage droll,
In centre of berg we dug a hole
And erected a strong pole,
The frost and ice soon held it fast
And well it served us for a mast,
On which we stretched out our sails
And scud along before the gales,
Until we came to an island
And on its sides it seemed highland,
And Britain being queen of seas,
For her this island we did seize,
To give her new coaling station
For to benefit the nation,
So when we had sailed landward
We erected British standard
On the highest mountain top,
Which graceful down to sea did slope,
We cast our anchor in its side
So to explore it far and wide,
But what was our astonishment
Without the least admonishment,
Our island soon away did float
As if it was a mighty boat.
Can you believe this wondrous tale?
It proved to be a monster whale,
And o’er the ocean quick it flew
With our great iceberg and our crew,
Until it came to Newfoundland,
Where all did safe on the ground land;
Poor whale was stranded on the beach
And his sea home no more could reach,
Our crew in great wealth each on shares,
By selling whale and seals and bears,
We hired steam tug to reach our ship,
Now free from ice we had quick trip,
And she being loaded down with seal,
And we all shared in common weal,
For joy each of us had reason,
Making two trips in one season.

4. The Secret of the Sea

       by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me
As I gaze upon the sea!
All the old romantic legends,
All my dreams, come back to me.

Sails of silk and ropes of sandal,
Such as gleam in ancient lore;
And the singing of the sailors,
And the answer from the shore!

Most of all, the Spanish ballad
Haunts me oft, and tarries long,
Of the noble Count Arnaldos
And the sailor’s mystic song.

Like the long waves on a sea—beach,
Where the sand as silver shines,
With a soft, monotonous cadence,
Flow its unrhymed lyric lines;—

Telling how the Count Arnaldos,
With his hawk upon his hand,
Saw a fair and stately galley,
Steering onward to the land;—

How he heard the ancient helmsman
Chant a song so wild and clear,
That the sailing sea—bird slowly
Poised upon the mast to hear,

Till his soul was full of longing,
And he cried, with impulse strong,—
‘Helmsman! for the love of heaven,
Teach me, too, that wondrous song!’

‘Wouldst thou,’—so the helmsman answered,
‘Learn the secret of the sea?
Only those who brave its dangers
Comprehend its mystery!’

In each sail that skims the horizon,
In each landward—blowing breeze,
I behold that stately galley,
Hear those mournful melodies;

Till my soul is full of longing
For the secret of the sea,
And the heart of the great ocean
Sends a thrilling pulse through me.

5. Sailing to Byzantium

       by W. B. Yeats

That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees
—Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

O sages standing in God’s holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

6. A Time for Prayer

       by Rudyard Kipling

God and Soldiers men adore
In times of war, but not before
When War is over and things are righted
God is forgotten and Soldiers are slighted

Sailor Poems for Funerals

These poems about sailing and death honor the memory of the departed sailor, expressing the profound sense of loss felt by those left behind.

1. Gone from My Sight

       by Rev. Luther F. Beecher

I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says, “There, she is gone.”
“Gone where?”
Gone from my sight. That is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side,
and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “There, she is gone!”
there are other eyes watching her coming,
and there are other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “Here she comes!”
And that is dying.

2. Bilbo’s Last Song

       by J.R.R. Tolkien

Day is ended, dim my eyes,
but journey long before me lies.
Farewell, friends! I hear the call.
The ship’s beside the stony wall.
Foam is white and waves are grey;
beyond the sunset leads my way.
Foam is salt, the wind is free;
I hear the rising of the Sea.
Farewell, friends! The sails are set,
the wind is east, the moorings fret.
Shadows long before me lie,
beneath the ever-bending sky,
but islands lie behind the Sun
that I shall raise ere all is done;
lands there are to west of West,
where night is quiet and sleep is rest.
Guided by the Lonely Star,
beyond the utmost harbour-bar,
I’ll find the heavens fair and free,
and beaches of the Starlit Sea.
Ship, my ship! I seek the West,
and fields and mountains ever blest.
Farewell to Middle-earth at last.
I see the Star above my mast!

3. The Voyage

       by Christie Moore

I am a sailor, you’re my first mate,
We signed on together, we coupled our fate,
Hauled up our anchor, determined not to fail,
For the hearts treasure, together we set sail.
With no maps to guide us we steered our own course,
Rode out the storms when the winds were gale force,
Sat out the doldrums in patience and hope:
Working together we learned how to cope.
Life is an ocean and love is a boat,
In troubled water that keeps us afloat,
When we started the voyage, there was just me and you –
Now gathered round us, we have our own crew.
Together we’re in this relationship,
We built it with care to last the whole trip,
Our true destination’s not marked on any charts;
We’re navigating to the shores of the heart.

4. Sailor’s Rest

       by D.R. Block

When my sailing days are over,
And I sail the seas no more,
I shall build myself a refuge
By the ocean’s murmuring shore.
As I watch the foaming breakers
When the tide comes rushing in,
I will contemplate my lifetime
With its virtues and its sins.
Where the azure of the heavens
Meets the undulating blue,
Where the sweeping, soaring seagull
Flies its endless quest for food.
It is there that I would rest,
When my work on earth is done,
At the endless blue horizon
‘Neath the crimson, setting sun.

7. Psalm 23

       by Anonymous

The Lord is my pilot, I shall not drift.
He guides me across the dark waters.
He steers me through deep channels.
He keeps my log.
Yea, though I sail ‘mid the thunders
and tempest of life,
I shall dread no anger, for He is with me;
His love and His care, shelter me.
He prepares a quiet harbour before me.
He anoints the waves with oil
My ship rides calmly.
Surely sunlight and starlight
shall guide me on the voyage I take,
And I will rest in the heaven’s port forever.

5. Crossing the Bar

       by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea.
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home!
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark.
For though from out our bourn of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.

6. Some Time at Eve

       by Elizabeth Clark Hardy

Some time at eve when the tide is low,
I shall slip my mooring and sail away,
With no response to the friendly hail
Of kindred craft in the busy bay.
In the silent hush of the twilight pale,
When the night stoops down to embrace the day,
And the voices call in the waters’ flow-
Some time at eve when the tide is low,
I shall slip my mooring and sail away.
Through the purpling shadows that darkly trail
O’er the ebbing tide of the Unknown Sea,
I shall fare me away, with a dip of sail
And a ripple of waters to tell the tale
Of a lonely voyager, sailing away
To the Mystic Isles where at anchor lay
The crafts of those who have sailed before
O’er the Unknown Sea to the Unseen Shore.
A few who have watched me sail away
Will miss my craft from the busy bay;
Some friendly barks that were anchored near,
Some loving souls that my heart held dear,
In silent sorrow will drop a tear
But I shall have peacefully furled my sail
In mooring sheltered from storm and gale
And greet the friends who have sailed before
O’er the Unknown Sea to the Unknown Shore.

8. When the Last Hand Comes Aboard

       by Richard John Scarr

No more a watch to stand, Old Sailor.
For you are drifting on an ebbing tide.
Eight Bells has rung. Last dogwatch done.
Now a new berth awaits you on the other side.
Your ship is anchored in God’s Harbour.
And your ship mates, now of equal rank.
Are mustered on the deck to greet.
And Pipe as you ascend the Plank.
Her Boilers with full head of steam.
Cargo stowed and alley stored.
Just waiting to get underway.
When the last Hand comes aboard.
Look sharp! That Hand is you, Old Sailor.
And you’ll be sailing out on Heavenly Seas.
May the wind be ever at your back.
Fair weather, and God Speed!

Sailor Poems about Love

The sea has long been a symbol of love and romance, and sailor poems about love capture this timeless theme. These poems about sailing and love explore the many different facets of love, from the sweet and tender to the tumultuous and stormy.

1. Reaching Deepest Oceans

       by Charmaine Chircop

My beloved
How far will I love you
As far as where moons immerse in deep seas
Beyond the edge of a tide’s crimson hue
Where your breath fills my sails with soft zephyr breeze
Lone I embark to our promised land
Across borders of secret pain
Under still stars,above drifting sand
Through anchored shadows of rain
Oh foreign eyes, but never distant
Your arms ‘safe harbor of a long embrace
Two souls entwined, two hearts persistent
Beneath night’s sky, my lips outline your face
Water rise, water falls between shores and time

2. When We Were Young

       by Daniel Turner

When we were young we loved our fairy tales
A frog could be a prince with just one kiss
Each cloud, a boat where dreamers could set sail
Imagination was the great abyss
Too soon we grew and lost our innocence
Found out that swords are never pulled from stones
That dreams come true but only with expense
And happy ever after’s come and gone
Yet some of us still wish upon a star
Believe that rainbows come with pots of gold
Reality is life for most comes hard
And love like water runs both hot and cold
Like you I wish that fairy tales came true
But grownups know they very seldom do

3. Missed the Boat

       by Elaine George

She sits in the old rocking chair
Threads of silver in her golden hair
Alone in the glow of candle light
She rocks so gently in the night
Outside the autumn leaves do fall
As shadows dance upon the wall
Crystal tears in eyes of china blue
Fall for the love she never knew
He came to shore that summer day
His schooner anchored in the bay
And with a glance her knees grew weak
She lost her voice and could not speak
For there he stood so tall and lean
The handsome man in all her dreams
And he broke her heart that summer day
When he said goodbye and sailed away

4. My Boat

       by Sunshine Smile

Love my name ~ but never take it
Feel my heart ~ but never crush it
Read my words ~ but never destroy them
Warm yourself in the sun ~ but share it with me
Listen for my sad song ~ comfort me
See my smile ~ laugh along with me
A poem from my soul ~ I will be happy to share
A thought taking birth
Eyes that see even in deep darkness
A human being
I travel in my little boat in the open sea ~ there’s room for you too
The whole world in front of our feet
Sunrise and sunset
An adventure ~ if you want
Together ~ always

5. Where You Feel Near

       by Carolyn Devonshire

Beneath the gilded clouds, there is a place
Where day’s first rays light up a sea of gold
Surrounded by slim stalks that bow in grace
To worship as the gentle winds unfold
And on this canvas there’s also a boat
Its bottom covered by the last night’s rain
So full that it can barely stay afloat
Upon green wetland shores it will remain
Just as the love we shared made full our hearts
Sweet memories of smitten teens live here
Their movie spun in nature’s finest arts
I wait, I watch and sometimes you appear
Each day while you’re away, I journey here
For it’s the only place that you feel near

6. Sea Idyll

       by Leo Larry Amadore

In a world of conflict and scheming,
may I never awaken from dreaming
of someday being able to float
out — out in my own little boat —
out on a moon-lit bay
where tropical waters play
and a cooling breeze drifts by.
The salt sea air would be bracing —
would set my weary heart racing —
there on that moon-bright bay.
Only gulls overhead, as they fly, and I,
would hear, from the sandy shore,
the palms as they rustle.  I sigh —
oh — I never would ask for more
than to float on the nurturing sea —
only you, and the moon, there with me.

7. I Can Only Wish

       by Mike Martin

I buried my boys today
Thirteen wasn’t bad enough
What a pain in my heart
It’s mine now, gone from them
They suffer no more
More than a hundred years
Barely seen half of that
I can only wish
Brothers to the very end
I can only wish
Love to take my boys out
Take them out all day
Take them to the running field
Run the while away
I can only wish
Love to buy my boat back
Buy it back all day
Wish I had my old boat
Wish I’d fish today
If I could only fish

8. A Love Note to My Dream Boat

       by Andrea Dietrich

come to me by night
when the world has gone to sleep
~in my bed I wait~
come blanket me with your love
rock me awake to passion.

Sailor Poems about the Sea

These poems evoke the sights, sounds, and smells of the ocean, inviting readers to immerse themselves in its vast and endlessly fascinating world.

1. The Full Sea Rolls and Thunders

       by William Ernest Henley

The full sea rolls and thunders
In glory and in glee.
O, bury me not in the senseless earth
But in the living sea!

Ay, bury me where it surges
A thousand miles from shore
And in its brotherly unrest
I’ll range for evermore.

2. Sailing

       by Gavin Sutherland

I am sailing, I am sailing,
Home again cross the sea.
I am sailing, stormy waters,
To be near you, to be free.

I am flying, I am flying,
Like a bird cross the sky.
I am flying, passing high clouds,
To be with you, to be free.

Can you hear me, can you hear me
Thro the dark night, far away,
I am dying, forever trying,
To be with you, who can say.

Can you hear me, can you hear me,
Thro the dark night far away.
I am dying, forever trying,
To be with you, who can say.

We are sailing, we are sailing,
Home again cross the sea.
We are sailing stormy waters,
To be near you, to be free.

Oh lord, to be near you, to be free.
Oh lord, to be near you, to be free,
Oh lord.

3. Sea-Fever

       by John Masefield

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;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

4. Missing

       by Thomas Fleming Day

A cloudless sky, a sleeping sea,
A cold gray reach of shore,
A gleam of sail upon the lee—
And nothing more.
My eyes saw that, my heart saw more:
A woman whose quivering lip
Moulded this sentence o’er and o’er,
“God keep that ship!”
God keep that ship! Her prayer, not mine,
Goes out across the sea
To where beyond the misty line
A face is turned from me.
God keep that ship! Her ship, not mine—
Mine never came back to me.

6. Sea Calm

       by Langston Hughes

“How still,
How strangely still
The water is today,
It is not good
For water

To be so still that way.”

5. Break, Break, Break

       by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.

O well for the fisherman’s boy,
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay!

And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill:
But O for the touch of a vanish’d hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!

Break, break, break,
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me.

7. The Sea

       by Barry Cornwall

The sea! the sea! the open sea!
The blue, the fresh, the ever free!
Without a mark, without a bound,
It runneth the earth’s wide regions round;
It plays with the clouds; it mocks the skies;
Or like a cradled creature lies.

I ’m on the sea! I ’m on the sea!
I am where I would ever be;
With the blue above, and the blue below,
And silence wheresoe’er I go;
If a storm should come and awake the deep,
What matter? I shall ride and sleep.

I love, O, how I love to ride
On the fierce, foaming, bursting tide,
When every mad wave drowns the moon
Or whistles aloft his tempest tune,
And tells how goeth the world below,
And why the sou’west blasts do blow.

I never was on the dull, tame shore,
But I lov’d the great sea more and more,
And backwards flew to her billowy breast,
Like a bird that seeketh its mother’s nest;
And a mother she was, and is, to me;
For I was born on the open sea!
The waves were white, and red the morn,

In the noisy hour when I was born;
And the whale it whistled, the porpoise roll’d,
And the dolphins bared their backs of gold;
And never was heard such an outcry wild
As welcom’d to life the ocean-child!

I ’ve liv’d since then, in calm and strife,
Full fifty summers, a sailor’s life,
With wealth to spend and a power to range,
But never have sought nor sighed for change;
And Death, whenever he comes to me,
Shall come on the wild, unbounded sea!

Farewell Sailor Poems

Saying goodbye is never easy, but farewell sailor poems offer a sense of closure and comfort. These sailor’s farewell poems express gratitude for the departed sailor’s life and offer hope for the journey ahead.

1. The Dolphin and the Seahorse

       by Sharon Gulley

Mother started her journey home today
where Dad stands, waiting with open arms
in the sunsets meeting of the oceans glare.

I stood by the shore, the water so clear
waiting for the message the dolphins bring near.
Has she made it; did they greet? Little
dolphin, is her journey complete?

The seahorses are guarding the Sailor in delight
the maiden was brought home by the dolphin’s
side. For them the coral is glowing in splendor sight,
the waters are warm as they hugged tight.

No more loneliness he promised her as she held him
close not another word was heard. They have united
once again and now their new journey begins.

Thank you, beautiful soul, for you have made my heart
happy and once again whole. Beautiful dolphin, the messenger
of the Sea, someday I myself will be with the sea.

2. As I Sail Out to Sea

       by Gerald Kithinji

I look around me at all those happy faces
People that have come from far and wide
To bid goodbye their son-turned sailor
I look around me at all those smiling faces
And wonder if they or any one of them
Can visualize what is in it for me

I put out my best smile for them
And hug each and every one
A final hug, a final goodbye
For such it is for all but a few
A final farewell for their son-turned-sailor
As he set sail the fathomless seas

I look around me, searching for the one love
That could not come, that would not come
That would not bear to see me sail away
I look around me but all I see are these people
That smile and hug and shout ‘Goodbye’
As I sail out to sea, out of her sight

As the ship sets sail out of the harbour
We stand on the deck waving Goodbye
And as the people and the coast recede behind us
A tear – co-mingled with sweat, rolls down my cheek
And I know I must come back and soon
For the one who would not see me sail out to sea

3. Farewell, Mon Amour

       by Panagiota Romios

Oh, my…oh…my sad heart’s bang on broke,
Bidding adieu, to my lover, a sweet bloke.
A tall, brunette sailor, going back to the sea.
In duress, I moaned, what’s to become of me?

Without his eyes, the deep color of the sea.
And his tanned, muscular arms to encircle me.
I rested my arms on the railing, as his ship pulled away,
Knowing, I’d recall this moment forever and a day.

Come back, come back, dearest sailor of mine.
To love me once again and stroll in God’s sunshine!

4. Sailor’s Farewell

       by Cicely Fox Smith

Lovely is the white town, and smiling it lies
With little green gardens underneath the blue skies,
Days so full of sunshine, nights so full of glee, –
Oh, a fair place, a rare place, for sailors in from sea.

A pleasant place to come to for ships long from land,
A bright place, a light place, with mirth on every hand,
Is the white smiling city by the blue Pacific shore . . .
And I wish in my heart I may never see it more.

There’s a wide white plaza where folks pass to and fro,
And a drowsy tune sounding on all the winds that blow,
Church-bells all the morning, fiddles all the night . . .
Oh, a neat place, a sweet place, for sailormen’s delight!

But it’s heave and break her out . . . and the best tune of all
Is the rattle of the windlass, the clicking of the pawl,
And the steady wind a-blowing, yes, blowing off the shore,
From the white smiling city that I would see no more.

For cruel is the white town for all it looks so fair,
There’s a cloud upon the sunshine and there’s sorrow everywhere,
And blue as Mary Mother’s robe the sea is and the sky . . .
But a bitter hate I’ll bear it until the day I die!

5. Hush Now Sailor’s Child

       by DM Babbit

Hush now, my sweet child,
tho the wind howls wet and wild,
the snows will fall again upon this barren land
while inside we make our firmest stand.
Warm by the fire blaze,
the story will again be raised,
the images thru the house will slip,
be not afraid as you bite your lip.
Silent and still, the candle flames flicker
and heartbeat races fast and quicker,
as the legendary story goes,
the ghost wore weathered sailor’s clothes.
His face unclear and his voice barely a whisper,
they say he was a shabby lonely drifter
who made his way beyond the fielded trees
home from the ships and salty sea.
A sailor of a time long, long ago,
forgotten across the frozen snows,
to dry land returned where he was birthed
to find the fields lay built open and unearthed.
Home he came but nothing remains the same,
everything had changed, no one knew his name
new fields were filled by figures unfamiliar
and he himself felt and seemed quite peculiar.
Wandering thru the streets at night
he often whistled songs until the morning light
and should you hear his lonesome call
be not afraid, no, not at all.
The melody he plays is much like a riddle
riding merrily upon the tremulous whistle
calling out to those who are fearful and afraid-
you are prisoners only of your self-betrayed.
Greet the change with openness
it can be curse or can be gift,
but for this sailor home from the sea
the waves rise up and down flowing in and out like destiny.
Hush now, my child and dream of majestic ships
and sailors sailing on amazing trips
returning home in time to find
the child he left behind.

6. It Tossed – and Tossed –

       by Emily Dickinson

It tossed – and tossed –
A little Brig I knew – o’ertook by Blast –
It spun – and spun –
And groped delirious, for Morn –

It slipped – and slipped –
As One that drunken – stept –
Its white foot tripped –
Then dropped from sight –

Ah, Brig – Good Night
To Crew and You –
The Ocean’s Heart too smooth – too Blue –
To break for You –

7. Sailor at Sea

       by Stephen Kilmer

Sometimes I feel like I am just slipping away.  Slide me in the water like a dead man at sea.  I can feel the cloth shroud surrounding and protecting me like a swaddled babe.  And as I sink into the murky waters I feel the cold shoulder of God shrug and say let him be.  And I pass into the afterworld in a sea of fear and discontent.  I struggle to open my eyes but I can’t see.  For I have been blinded by my stupidity.   I believed that God loved me but it was not to be for I had to love God before I could pass from this world to his.  And slipping into this darkness I knew that I was forever blind and food for the soulless bottom feeders of this world.  I can’t go back I can only pray that you read this and make amends before you make the mistake of a sailor to long at sea.

Sailor Poems about Life

These poems about sailing and life explore the themes of struggle, perseverance, and the search for meaning, offering insights into life.

1. Shores of Majesty

       by A.G. Paguican

A boat sails near a shore of crags and peaks,
A sight to thrill the heart and stir the soul,
The water’s gentle ebb and flow like mystic leaks,
That mark the passage of time’s endless roll.
The cliffs rise high, a fortress of stone,
Their ancient majesty and power on display,
The sailors feel so small, so alone,
As they navigate the treacherous bay.

2. The Last Voyage

       by Donald R Wolff

Standing in the harbor thinking this is The Last Voyage for me,
It’s a beautiful morning the sky is clear as far as the eye can see,
For some time, I’ve planned this trip I should already be home.
It’s with great sadness the time has come this trip I must sail alone,
The island people have been great everyone so kind.
I’m sure I’ll miss them I’ve got to get to Caroline,
Once I thought love would last forever, today everything’s gone.
Making The Last Voyage back to my mountain’s where I belong
The wind is filling the sail’s sea breeze on my face.
Good memories I will keep bad ones I’ll replace,
The sea has been a friend of mine since I don’t remember when.
Tonight, I’ll stand on deck with one last toast of bourbon and gin,
Sometime tomorrow I’ll will dock this boat at the Carolina shore.
I know it’s time for me to step aside no reason to sail anymore.
Deep in the forest is where I go to write it’s always been this way.
When I see and feel the sunny days, it will be a comfort to know I’m here to stay.

3. Sail-Boat

       by Anonymous

Dungeons, restless, protests,
sinking, dreaming, never redeeming,
Little irons bars separating me from those high ceilings.
Escape, escape, escape,
I must not, obey, sit still, feet ringing on the cement again,
again.
Blues and golds, purples and dark oranges,
the ripple of clear water beneath the great beauty beheld,
God speaking to me in all his untarnished life.
The little bluebells that line the black cobblestones near the welcome sign,
the singing of the neighbor that forever follows,
the whispers of her inner mind.
Do I dare say I,
miss it?
Those fitful, flightless days alone?
Maybe, maybe, maybe,
hollow was better than pure stone.
I once belonged, belong?
But I did.
I grazed the warm spirits of the waters song,
bent over the rim to explore depth of that below.
On top of the world I thought,
but only on top of a boat.
Who knew the currency I had baited,
by doing one retched thing,
disastrous to my bone,
the marrow yielding shame of that one fatal blow.
Now here I am..
Hell, is that so fitting?
All I want back is,
my sailboat.

4. Sailing East

       by Donald R Wolff Jr

Sailing, sails set with a heading east
Leaving the land to be lost to me
And there she will cry
Not long is Goodbye
Home, is the water and sky
Living free

5. A Bright Future

       by Evelyn Judy Buehler

Pretty sailboats glide in molten sun
toward a new gold horizon

6. Forests of the North Sea

       by Hussein Dekmak

The moon hangs
In a sky of pale pink
Dipping slowly down
To kiss the tops
Of looming white figures
Rising from the sea
They reach for her
Hoping she might lift them
From their watery roots
Even the sea holds its breath
Waves calmed to mirror surface
Waiting for their reunion
Before the sun comes
To chase her from their sight
I stand alone on the deck
As my ship glides past
Knowing I bear witness
To a private moment
Yet being unable
To pull my gaze away

7. Dragon Sun Voyage

       by Anonymous

An orange dragon sun flames
above the starboard beam
in the crow’s nest a cloudless sky
clipper ship floats sapphire seas
through Viking channel trails
she drifts her goddess voyage
now in windless sails
The breath of Odin blows
upon the pearlescent deep
down below the mermaids sleep
dirges echo from Norman cliffs
while a crew of earth sons
sojourn to water’s glassy edges
silent stars row in lapis blue
as the flaming dragon dies

Final Thoughts

Sailor poems are a beautiful way to capture the essence of the sea and the life of a sailor.

Through the various categories of famous, funny, inspirational, short, long, rhyming, for children, about love, the sea, life, and farewells, we can see the diversity and richness of sailor poetry.

The sailor poems evoke emotions, memories, and the wonder of the ocean, inspiring us to appreciate the beauty of life and the power of nature.

We would love it if you share your thoughts on these poems about sailor in the comments section below, and we hope that you have found joy and inspiration in these poems.