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“For the wander-thirst is on me” (Wanderlust 2)

“The Sea Gypsy” – Richard Hovey (1864-1900)

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.

And because Venice is one of my favorite seaports …

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Venice, from the Porch of Madonna della Salute, ca. 1835. Oil on canvas 36 x 48 1/8 in. (91.4 x 122.2 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1899 (99.31). Photo: MetMuseum.org
Joseph Mallord William Turner, Venice, from the Porch of Madonna della Salute, ca. 1835. Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 1/8 in. (91.4 x 122.2 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1899 (99.31). Photo: MetMuseum.org

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