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, 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; 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 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; 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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SONG OF HIAWATHA: THE FOUR WINDS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW EAST AND WEST by MATTHEW ARNOLD THE LASS THAT MADE THE BED TO ME by ROBERT BURNS WINTER TWILIGHT by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON MASQUE AT THE MARRIAGE OF THE EARL OF SOMERSET: THIRD SQUIRE by THOMAS CAMPION FABLE: THE BEAU AND THE VIPER by NATHANIEL COTTON OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE; 2ND VERSION: INTRODUCTION by RICHARD CRASHAW |