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Salt-Water Ballads

by John Masefield

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Vagabond

Dunno a heap about the what an’ why,
  Can’t say’s I ever knowed.
Heaven to me’s a fair blue stretch of sky,
  Earth’s jest a dusty road.

Dunno the names o’ things, nor what they are,
  Can’t say’s I ever will.
Dunno about God—he’s jest the noddin’ star
  Atop the windy hill.

Dunno about Life—it’s jest a tramp alone
  From wakin’-time to doss.
Dunno about Death—it’s jest a quiet stone
  All over-grey wi’ moss.

An’ why I live, an’ why the old world spins,
  Are things I never knowed;
My mark’s the gypsy fires, the lonely inns,
  An’ jest the dusty road.

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