The Sea Gypsy

Rowena

I am fevered with the sunset,

I am fretful with the bay,

For the wander-thirst is on me

And my soul is in Cathay.

There's a schooner in the offing,

With her topsails shot with fire,

And my heart has gone aboard her

For the Islands of Desire.

I must forth again to-morrow!

With the sunset I must be

Hull down on the trail of rapture

In the wonder of the sea.

Richard Hovey

Note: Rowena is a Formosa 41 topsail ketch formerly skippered by my friend Rebecca and now being sailed by Live Ocean, a marine conservation group in Kirkland Washington.