| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| A Poor French Sailor’s Scottish Sweetheart |
| | | William Johnson Cory (1823–92) |
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| I CANNOT forget my Joe, | |
| I bid him be mine in sleep; | |
| But battle and woe have changed him so | |
| There ’s nothing to do but weep. | |
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| My mother rebukes me yet, | 5 |
| And I never was meek before; | |
| His jacket is wet, his lip cold set, | |
| He ’ll trouble our home no more. | |
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| Oh, breaker of reeds that bend! | |
| Oh, quencher of tow that smokes! | 10 |
| I ’d rather descend to my sailor friend | |
| Than prosper with lofty folks. | |
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| I ’m lying beside the gowan, | |
| My Joe in the English bay; | |
| I ’m Annie Rowan, his Annie Rowan, | 15 |
| He called me his Bien-Aimée. | |
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| I ’ll hearken to all you quote, | |
| Though I ’d rather be deaf and free; | |
| The little he wrote in the sinking boat | |
| Is Bible and charm for me. | 20 |
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