Sea-Tied

"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever."

-- Jacques Cousteau

I would that I had lived a land-locked life
And never known the surging scent of spray,
Nor heard the keening gulls in raucous flight
Nor felt the gentle rocking of the waves.

No forest, mountains, wilderness or vale
Can net my soul as surely as the sea;
Against its pull, all other longings fail
None, having felt it, ever shall be free.

For we of Albion are an island race,
The blood of voyaging Vikings in our veins;
Great Neptune holds the land in his embrace
And binds our hearts in brine-enchanted chains.

And all my wishing cannot change my fate:
Wrought in the wind-whipped wildness of the waves,
The wonder of the spell cast is so great
That truly, I cannot wish to be saved.