When the Fishing Boats Go Out

Lucy Maud Montgomery 1874 (New London, Prince Edward Island) – 1942 (Toronto)



When the lucent skies of morning flush with dawning rose once more,
And waves of golden glory break adown the sunrise shore,
And o'er the arch of heaven pied films of vapor float.
There's joyance and there's freedom when the fishing boats go out.

The wind is blowing freshly up from far, uncharted caves,
And sending sparkling kisses o'er the brows of virgin waves,
While routed dawn-mists shiver­oh, far and fast they flee,
Pierced by the shafts of sunrise athwart the merry sea!

Behind us, fair, light-smitten hills in dappled splendor lie,
Before us the wide ocean runs to meet the limpid sky­
Our hearts are full of poignant life, and care has fled afar
As sweeps the white-winged fishing fleet across the harbor bar.

[Page 35]

The sea is calling to us in a blithesome voice and free,
There's keenest rapture on its breast and boundless liberty!
Each man is master of his craft, its gleaming sails out-blown,
And far behind him on the shore a home he calls his own.

Salt is the breath of ocean slopes and fresher blows the breeze,
And swifter still each bounding keel cuts through the combing seas,
Athwart our masts the shadows of the dipping sea-gulls float,
And all the water-world's alive when the fishing boats go out.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

1:07 min read
91

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABC DDEE FFGG EEHH IIBC
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 1,221
Words 218
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Lucy Maud Montgomery

Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE, called "Maud" by family and friends and publicly known as L. more…

All Lucy Maud Montgomery poems | Lucy Maud Montgomery Books

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