| |
| 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. | |
| It ’s a dead, dark watch that he ’s a-keeping there, | 5 |
| And a long, long night that lags a-creeping there, | |
| Where the Trades and the tides roll over him | |
| And the great ships go by. | |
| |
| He ’s there alone with green seas rocking him | |
| For a thousand miles round; | 10 |
| He ’s there alone with dumb things mocking him, | |
| And we’re homeward bound. | |
| It ’s a long, lone watch that he ’s a-keeping there, | |
| And a dead, cold night that lags a-creeping there, | |
| While the months and the years roll over him | 15 |
| And the great ships go by. | |
| |
| I wonder if the tramps come near enough | |
| As they thrash to and fro, | |
| And the battle-ships’ bells ring clear enough | |
| To be heard down below; | 20 |
| If through all the lone watch that he ’s a-keeping there, | |
| And the long, cold night that lags a-creeping there, | |
| The voices of the sailor-men shall comfort him | |
| When the great ships go by. | |
| |
