Topic: Sea Mates

NorseLady

Date: 2006-04-01 04:05 EST
There must be balance in all things. Tells the tale of one sailor's fate, honouring him. A bit of a smile as her crew joins in on the last two lines of each verse, accentuating them for the campfire dwellers as they huddle close to each other. . .

'He gave us all a good-bye cheerily At the first dawn of day; We dropped him down the side full drearily When the light died away. Tis a dead dark watch that he be a-keeping there, And a long, long night that lags a-creeping there, Where the Trades and the Tides roll o'er him. And the great ships go by.

He be there alone with green seas rocking him For a thousand miles round; He be there along with dumb things mocking him, And we be homeward bound. Tis a long lone watch that he be a-keeping there, And a dead cold night that lags a-creeping there, While the months and the years roll o'er him And the great ships go by.

I wonder if the ships come near enough As they thrash to and fro, And the battle-ships' horn sound clear enough To be heard down below; If through all the lone watch that he be a-keeping there, And the long, cold night that lags a-creeping there, The voices of the seafarers shall comfort him When the great ships go by.'