Analysis of Sea Fear

I can’t go down to the sea again
For I am old and ailing;
My ears are deaf to the mermaid’s call,
And my stiff limbs are failing.
The white sails and the tall masts
Are no longer to be seen
On the dainty clipper ships that sailed
For Hull, and Aberdeen!

I can’t go down to the sea again:
My eyes are weak and bleared,
And they search again for the gallant poop
Where once I stood and steered.
There’s nought but wire and boiler-plate
To meet my wand’ring gaze.
Never a sign of the graceful spars
Of the good old sailing days!

So I will sit in the little room
That all old sailors know,
And smoke, and sing, and yarn about
The ships of long ago,
‘The Flying Cloud’, ‘The Cutty Sark’,
‘The Hotspur’ and ‘The Dart’ . . .
But I won’t go down to the sea again,
For fear it breaks my heart!