TEN THOUSAND MILES AWAY 237

Of the billowy brine

Let others do all my roaming.

Oh, here's to the land where you stick to your chairs,

Where the beds do not fire you out unawares, Where you know which is down, and which is up-stairs

A health to the land, yo ho!"

Thomas R. Ybarra

TEN THOUSAND MILES AWAY

It's ho! for a gay and a gallant bark,
A brisk and a rattling breeze,

A gallant crew and a captain, too,
To carry me o'er the seas

To carry me o'er the seas, my boys,

To my own true love so gay

For taking a trip in a Government ship

Ten thousand miles away.

(Chorus)

And it's blow, ye winds heigh-ho,

It's a-roaming I will go

I'll stay no more on England's shore,

So let your music play.

For I am off on the morning train

To cross the raging main —

I am on the rove to my own true love
Ten thousand miles away.

Her eyes are blue as the violet's hue

And crimson is her hair;

And crimson is her hair, my boys

And while I sing this lay,

She is doing the grand in a distant land
Ten thousand miles away.

(Chorus)

Dark and dismal was the day

When last I saw my Meg;

She had a Government band around each hand

And one around each leg

And one around each leg, my boys,

All dressed in a suit of gray ·

Oh, my love says she'll remember me
Ten thousand miles away.

(Chorus)

I wish I were a bo's'n tight

Or e'en a bombardier

I'd hurry afloat in an open boat

And to my true love steer;

And to my true love steer, my boys,

Where the laughing dolphins play

Where the shrimps and sharks are having their larks

Ten thousand miles away.

(Chorus)

The sun may shine in the London fog

And the river Thames run clear;

TEN THOUSAND MILES AWAY

The ocean brine may turn to wine,
And I might forget my beer.

I might forget my beer, my boys,
And the landlord's quarter day –

But I'll never forget my own sweetheart
Ten thousand miles away.

(Chorus)

239

Anonymous

SAILORS' CHANTEYS