The Second Voyage
We’ve sent our little Cupids all ashore--They were frightened, they were tired, they were cold;Our sails of silk and purple go to store,And we’ve cut away our mast of beaten gold.(Foul weather!)Oh ’tis hemp and singing pine for to stand against the brine,But Love he is the master as of old!
The sea has shorn our galleries away,The salt has soiled our gilding past remede;Our paint is flaked and blistered by the spray,Our sides are half a fathom furred in weed,(Foul weather!)And the doves of Venus fled and the petrels came instead,But Love he was our master at our need!
’Was Youth would keep no vigil at the bow,’Was Pleasure at the helm too drunk to steer--We’ve shipped three able quartermasters now,Men call them Custom, Reverence, and Fear.(Foul weather!)They are old and scarred and plain, but we’ll run no risk againFrom any Port o’ Paphos mutineer!
We seek no more the tempest for delight,We skirt no more the indraught and the shoal--We ask no more of any day or nightThan to come with least adventure to our goal.(Foul weather!)What we find we needs must brook, but we do not go to look,Nor tempt the Lord our God that saved us whole!
Yet, caring so, not overly we careTo brace and trim for every foolish blast,If the squall be pleased to sweep us unaware,He may bellow off to leeward like the last.(Foul weather!)We will blame it on the deep (for the watch must have their sleep),And Love can come and wake us when ’tis past.
Oh launch them down with music from the beach,Oh warp them out with garlands from the quays--Most resolute--a damsel unto each--New prows that seek the old Hesperides!(Foul weather!)Though we know the voyage is vain, yet we see our path againIn the saffroned bridesails scenting all the seas!(Foul weather!)
Words in this poem
- vigil n.
- Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable]
- mutineer n.
- One guilty of mutiny. [See Mutiny.]
- indraught n.
- An opening from the sea into the land; an inlet. Sir W.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- overly adv.
- In an overly manner.
- unaware a.
- Not aware; not noticing; giving no heed; thoughtless; inattentive.
- damsel n.
- A young person, either male or female, of noble or gentle extraction; as, Damsel Pepin; Damsel Richard, Prince of Wales. [OE. damosel, damesel, damisel, damsel, fr. OF. damoisele, damisele, gentlewoman, F. demoiselle young lady; cf. OF. damoisel young nobleman, F. damoiseau; fr. LL]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Second Voyage is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Five Nations, Volume I, Project Gutenberg ebook #60260; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Rudyard Kipling, The Second Voyage, in The Five Nations, Volume I (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60260, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-five-nations-1/the-second-voyage.html, id L20228.
Form and metre
The Second Voyage is 43 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB--B ashoreA · coldB · storeA · goldB · weather · brine · oldB
- 2 ABAB--B awayA · remedeB · sprayA · weedB · weather · instead · needB
- 3 ABAB--B bowA · steerB · nowA · fearB · weather · again · mutineerB
- 4 ABAB--B delightA · shoalB · nightA · goalB · weather · look · wholeB
- 5 ABAB--B careA · blastB · unawareA · lastB · weather · sleep · pastB
- 6 ABA-C-BC beachA · quaysB · eachA · hesperides · weatherC · again · seasB · weatherC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| We’ve sent our little Cupids all ashore-- | 10 | ··//˘/˘·˘/ |
| They were frightened, they were tired, they were cold; | 10 | ··/˘··/··· |
| Our sails of silk and purple go to store, | 10 | /····/˘··· |
| And we’ve cut away our mast of beaten gold. | 11 | ···˘//··/˘· |
| (Foul weather!) | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Oh ’tis hemp and singing pine for to stand against the brine, | 14 | ····/˘········ |
| But Love he is the master as of old! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The sea has shorn our galleries away, | 9 | ····//˘˘/ |
| The salt has soiled our gilding past remede; | 10 | ····//˘·˘/ |
| Our paint is flaked and blistered by the spray, | 10 | /····/˘··· |
| Our sides are half a fathom furred in weed, | 10 | /····/˘··· |
| (Foul weather!) | 3 | ·/˘ |
| And the doves of Venus fled and the petrels came instead, | 14 | ····/˘···/˘·˘/ |
| But Love he was our master at our need! | 10 | ····//˘·/· |
| ’Was Youth would keep no vigil at the bow, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| ’Was Pleasure at the helm too drunk to steer-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| We’ve shipped three able quartermasters now, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘· |
| Men call them Custom, Reverence, and Fear. | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| (Foul weather!) | 3 | ·/˘ |
| They are old and scarred and plain, but we’ll run no risk again | 14 | ············˘/ |
| From any Port o’ Paphos mutineer! | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| We seek no more the tempest for delight, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| We skirt no more the indraught and the shoal-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| We ask no more of any day or night | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Than to come with least adventure to our goal. | 11 | ·····˘/˘·/· |
| (Foul weather!) | 3 | ·/˘ |
| What we find we needs must brook, but we do not go to look, | 14 | ·············· |
| Nor tempt the Lord our God that saved us whole! | 10 | ····/····· |
| Yet, caring so, not overly we care | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| To brace and trim for every foolish blast, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| If the squall be pleased to sweep us unaware, | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| He may bellow off to leeward like the last. | 11 | ··/˘··/˘··· |
| (Foul weather!) | 3 | ·/˘ |
| We will blame it on the deep (for the watch must have their sleep), | 14 | ·············· |
| And Love can come and wake us when ’tis past. | 10 | ·········· |
| Oh launch them down with music from the beach, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Oh warp them out with garlands from the quays-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Most resolute--a damsel unto each-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| New prows that seek the old Hesperides! | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| (Foul weather!) | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Though we know the voyage is vain, yet we see our path again | 15 | ····/˘·····/·˘/ |
| In the saffroned bridesails scenting all the seas! | 12 | ··/˘···/˘··· |
| (Foul weather!) | 3 | ·/˘ |
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