Song of the Master and Boatswain
At Dirty Dick's and Sloppy Joe's We drank our liquor straight, Some went upstairs with Margery, And some, alas, with Kate; And two by two like cat and mouse The homeless played at keeping house. There Wealthy Meg, the Sailor's Friend, And Marion, cow-eyed, Opened their arms to me but I Refused to step inside; I was not looking for a cage In which to mope my old age. The nightingales are sobbing in The orchards of our mothers, And hearts that we broke long ago Have long been breaking others; Tears are round, the sea is deep: Roll them overboard and sleep.
Song of the Master and Boatswain - meaning Summary
Memory, Longing, Refusal
The poem recounts a speaker's remembered nights in cheap taverns and casual liaisons, contrasting transient pleasures with an aversion to settled domestic life. He rejects offers of comfort or long-term attachment, preferring freedom to a ‘‘cage’’ of companionship. By the close, images of weeping nightingales and a deep sea suggest cumulative sorrow and the need to consign old regrets to oblivion, embracing sleep or emotional release.
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