| |
| TRY as he will, no man breaks wholly loose | |
| From his first love, no matter who she be. | |
| Oh, was there ever sailor free to choose, | |
| That didn’t settle somewhere near the sea? | |
| |
| Myself, it don’t excite me nor amuse | 5 |
| To watch a pack o’ shipping on the sea, | |
| But I can understand my neighbour’s views | |
| From certain things which have occurred to me. | |
| |
| Men must keep touch with things they used to use | |
| To earn their living, even when they are free; | 10 |
| And so come back upon the least excuse— | |
| Same as the sailor settled near the sea. | |
| |
| He knows he’s never going on no cruise— | |
| He knows he’s done and finished with the sea; | |
| And yet he likes to feel she’s there to use— | 15 |
| If he should ask her—as she used to be. | |
| |
| Even though she cost him all he had to lose, | |
| Even though she made him sick to hear or see, | |
| Still, what she left of him will mostly choose | |
| Her skirts to sit by. How comes such to be? | 20 |
| |
| Parsons in pulpits, tax-payers in pews, | |
| Kings on your thrones, you know as well as me, | |
| We’ve only one virginity to lose, | |
| And where we lost it there our hearts will be! | |
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