Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONG OF THE BOATMAN (DUAN AN BHADORA) by ANONYMOUS

First Line: BARK THAT BEARS MY NAME [OR ME] THROUGH FOAM AND SQUALL
Last Line: SHE IS THE BOAT CAN SAIL GO LEOR!
BARK that bear me through foam and squall,
You in the storm are my castle wall:
Though the sea should redden from bottom to top,
From tiller to mast she takes no drop;
On the tide-top, the tide-top,
Wherry aroon, my land and store!
On the tide-top, the tide-top,
She is the boat can sail go leor.

She dresses herself, and goes gliding on,
Like a dame in her robes of the Indian lawn;
For God has blessed her, gunnel and wale,
And O, if you saw her stretch out to the gale,
On the tide-top, on the tide-top, etc.

Whillan, ahoy! old heart of stone,
Stooping so black o'er the beach alone,
Answer me well, -- on the bursting brine
Saw you ever a bark like mine?
On the tide-top, the tide-top, etc.

Says Whillan, "Since first I was made of stone,
I have looked abroad o'er the beach alone,
But till to-day, on the bursting brine,
Saw I never a bark like thine,"
On the tide-top, on the tide-top, etc.

"God of the air!" the seamen shout,
When they see us tossing the brine about:
"Give us the shelter of strand or rock,
Or through and through us she goes with a shock!"
On the tide-top, the tide-top,
Wherry aroon, my land and store,
On the tide-top, the tide-top,
She is the boat can sail go leor!




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