A worried voice urges John Evereldown not to set out into the cold, starless night for Tilbury Town, but he insists on going. The town’s women are calling him, and he says he cannot be free while they call. His replies make the journey sound less like ordinary desire than like a haunting or an addiction he is powerless to refuse. He admits he might pray to be finished with it all, yet feels God is no friend to him. The poem creates a dark, uneasy mood: the forest hides him, shadows and even dead men seem to follow, and John walks away from warmth and light toward something he both wants and resents. In the end, he is not so much choosing Tilbury Town as surrendering to it.
John Evereldown — Summary
"Where are you going to-night, to-night, -- Where are you going, John Evereldown? There's never the sign of a star in sight, Nor a lamp that's nearer than Tilbury Town. Why do you stare as a dead man might? Where are you pointing away from the light? And where are you going to-night, to-night, -- Where are you going, John Evereldown?" "Right through the forest, where none can see, There's where I'm going, to Tilbury Town. The men are asleep, -- or awake, may be, -- But the women are calling John Evereldown. Ever and ever they call for me, And while they call can a man be free? So right through the forest, where none can see, There's where I'm going, to Tilbury Town." "But why are you going so late, so late, -- Why are you going, John Evereldown? Though the road be smooth and the path be straight, There are two long leagues to Tilbury Town. Come in by the fire, old man, and wait! Why do you chatter out there by the gate? And why are you going so late, so late, -- Why are you going, John Evereldown?" "I follow the women wherever they call, -- That's why I'm going to Tilbury Town. God knows if I pray to be done with it all, But God is no friend to John Evereldown. So the clouds may come and the rain may fall, The shadows may creep and the dead men crawl, -- But I follow the women wherever they call, And that's why I'm going to Tilbury Town."