Welcome to my poetry reading of 'The Seafarer' by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. Do you have a favourite poem or poet?
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'The Seafarer' by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
O happy dames, that may embrace
The fruit of your delight,
Help to bewail the woeful case
And eke the heavy plight
Of me, that wonted to rejoice
The fortunes of my pleasant choice.
Good ladies, help to fill my mourning voice.
In ship freight with rememberance
Of thoughts and pleasures past
He sails, that hath in governance
My life while it will last;
With scalding sighs, for lack of gale,
Furthering his hope, that is his sail,
Toward me, the sweet port of his avail.
Alas, how oft in dreams I see
Those eyes that were my food,
Which sometime so delighted me
That yet they do me good:
Wherewith I wake with his return
Whose absent flame did make me burn:
But when I find the lack, Lord how I mourn!
When other lovers, in arms across,
Rejoice their chief delight,
Drownèd in tears, to mourn my loss,
I stand the bitter night
In my window, where I may see
Before the winds how the clouds flee:
Lo, what a mariner love hath made of me!
And in green waves, when the salt flood
Doth rise by rage of wind,
A thousand fancies in that mood
Assail my restless mind.
Alas, now drencheth my sweet foe
That with the spoil of my heart did go,
And left me! But, alas, why did he so?
And when the seas wax calm again,
To chase fro me annoy,
My doubtful hope doth cause me plain:
So dread cuts off my joy.
Thus is my wealth mingled with woe,
And of each thought a doubt doth grow:
Now he comes! will he come? alas, no, no!
(Source: https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/seafarer-3)