To Ned

John Marr and Others Sailors

Where is the world we roved, Ned Bunn?Hollows thereof lay rich in shadeBy voyagers old inviolate thrownEre Paul Pry cruised with Pelf and Trade.To us old lads some thoughts come homeWho roamed a world young lads no more shall roam.Nor less the satiate year impendsWhen, wearying of routine-resorts,The pleasure-hunter shall break loose,Ned, for our Pantheistic ports:—Marquesas and glenned isles that beAuthentic Edens in a Pagan sea.The charm of scenes untried shall lure,And, Ned, a legend urge the flight—The Typee-truants under starsUnknown to Shakespere’s Midsummer-Night;And man, if lost to Saturn’s Age,Yet feeling life no Syrian pilgrimage.But, tell, shall he, the tourist, findOur isles the same in violet-glowEnamoring us what years and years—Ah, Ned, what years and years ago!Well, Adam advances, smart in pace,But scarce by violets that advance you trace.But we, in anchor-watches calm,The Indian Psyche’s languor won,And, musing, breathed primeval balmFrom Edens ere yet overrun;Marvelling mild if mortal twice,Here and hereafter, touch a Paradise.

Title: The character this poem is dedicated to is based on an shipmate of Melville’s youth, Richard (Toby) Greene, with whom he deserted ship in the Marquesas, as is the character of Toby in Typee.

l. 4: Paul Pry. Title character of a play by the English dramatist John Poole (1786-1872). As his name indicates, he pried into the lives and secrets of those around him. Pelf. Money or riches. Comes from the Anglo-French term pelfre, meaning booty.

l. 15: Typee-truants. Refers to the effect of Melville’s novel Typee on many readers, inducing them to travel to the South Seas.

l. 17: Saturn’s Age: In Greek mythology, the Golden Age, ruled by Saturn, before the triumph of the gods of Olympia.