"SHE struck one night on a sunken ledge Off the Scillies, homeward bound, Four month out for the Surrey Docks With deals from Puget Sound. Her back was broke, she couldn't live, As any man might see, An' it's 'ard to see a good ship go The way she went," said he. "An' I lost my oilskins an' sea boots, An' all my bloomin' gear, An' my chest with fancy shackles on I'd 'ad this many a year. There warn't no time to think o' them, Lord knows, in such a sea, But -- it's 'ard to lose your chest an' gear The way we done," said he. "An' better ships than 'er maybe I'll sign in yet, my son, An' chest an' gear I'll get again As good as them that's gone: But never a chap in all the world Like him that's drowned an' dead, An' it's 'ard to lose a man's best pal The way I done," he said. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FAT LADY by HAYDEN CARRUTH TO JOHN BROWN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON ON CARPACCIO'S PICTURE: THE DREAM OF ST. URSALA; SONNET by AMY LOWELL WAITER IN A CALIFORNIA VIETNAMESE RESTURANT by CLARENCE MAJOR NIGHT AND DAY: 2 by ISAAC ROSENBERG JOHN ERICSSON DAY MEMORIAL, 1918 by CARL SANDBURG MANOKWARI, IRIAN JAYA; IN MEMORIAM, ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE by KAREN SWENSON |