I HOW pleasant a sailor's life passes, Who roams o'er the watery main! No treasure he ever amasses, But cheerfully spends all his gain, We're strangers to party and faction, To honour and honesty true; And would not commit a bad action, For power or profit in view. @3Chorus:@1 Then why should we quarrel for riches Or any such glittering toy? A light heart and a thin pair of breeches Goes through the world, brave boy. II The world is a beautiful garden, Enriched with the blessings of life, The toiler with plenty rewarding, Which plenty too often breeds strife, When terrible tempests assail us, And mountainous billows affright; No grandeur or wealth can avail us, But skilful industry steers right. @3Chorus:@1 Then why should ... III The courtier's more subject to dangers, Who rules at the helm of the state, Than we, that to politics are strangers, Escape the snares laid for the great. The various blessings of nature, In various nations we try: No mortal than us can be greater, Who merrily live till we die. @3Chorus:@1 Then why should ... | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RAIN MUSIC by JOSEPH SEAMON COTTER JR. THE TEMPEST: PROLOGUE by JOHN DRYDEN THE OLD MAN'S WISH by WALTER POPE THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS by MARIA ABDY A WINTER DAY by ALBERT LINDLEY BEANE THE DEATH OF A FRIEND by LEVI BISHOP MARCH OF THE MEN OF HARLECH by ALEXANDER BOSWELL |