| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| The Three Fishers |
| | | Charles Kingsley (1819–75) |
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| THREE fishers went sailing out into the West, | |
| Out into the West as the sun went down; | |
| Each thought on the woman who lov’d him the best; | |
| And the children stood watching them out of the town; | |
| For men must work, and women must weep, | 5 |
| And there ’s little to earn, and many to keep, | |
| Though the harbor bar be moaning. | |
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| Three wives sat up in the light-house tower, | |
| And they trimm’d the lamps as the sun went down; | |
| They look’d at the squall, and they look’d at the shower, | 10 |
| And the night rack came rolling up ragged and brown! | |
| But men must work, and women must weep, | |
| Though storms be sudden, and waters deep, | |
| And the harbor bar be moaning. | |
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| Three corpses lay out on the shining sands | 15 |
| In the morning gleam as the tide went down, | |
| And the women are weeping and wringing their hands | |
| For those who will never come back to the town; | |
| For men must work, and women must weep, | |
| And the sooner it ’s over, the sooner to sleep— | 20 |
| And good-by to the bar and its moaning. | |
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