A Valediction

by John Masefield — a poem card from Justes Mots

Masefield's maritime valediction depicts a ship departing harbor with vivid sensory details—crashing waves, straining rigging, sea-shanty calls. The poem celebrates the threshold moment of departure, balancing the beauty of sea and stars against danger and loss. It serves those honoring farewells, new ventures, romantic journeys, or the eternal allure of open water.

We're bound for blue water where the great winds blow,
It's time to get the tacks aboard, time for us to go;
The crowd's at the capstan and the tune's in the shout,
"A long pull, a strong pull, and warp the hooker out."

The bow-wash is eddying, spreading from the bows,
Aloft and loose the topsails and some one give a rouse;
A salt-Atlantic chanty shall be music to the dead,…

Themes: love · new-baby · wedding · friendship