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  • Girls’ Songs for Seafarers, III
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Girls’ Songs for Seafarers, III

Hamish Maclaren

I will knit him a foam-white jersey,
Soft as the breast of the mew;
Or, if he prefers, he
May have it of deep-sea blue.

I will knit him stockings of crimson
Soft as the fall of flowers,
Of the colour that dims on
The islands in evening hours.

And I will knit him a bonnet
Soft as the breast of the dove,
With tassel-bobs on it –
Oh, my laddie, my love!


Hamish Maclaren

from Sailor with Banjo: entertainment in rhyme and song (Macmillan, 1930)

Reproduced by kind permission of the estate of Hamish Maclaren.

Tags:

care and carers clothes colours gifts knitting sailing
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Hamish Maclaren1901 - 1987

Hamish Maclaren’s poetry was coloured by his eventful early life in the Royal Navy and as a merchant seaman; his ‘sea lyrics’ are energetic shanties, and the lure of the sea is reflected in many of his quieter poems.
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