I saw Siam and India and crossed the China Sea; I found the land was nothing for the likes of me.

Refrain

A sailorman's a free man, and none can tell him "No!"

He packs his bag and ships it anywhere he wants

to go;

He wanders up and down the world, from cradle to

the grave

And finds his last Snug Harbor underneath the

wave.

Refrain

Archie Austin Coates

THE SEA GYPSY

I am fevered with the sunset,
I am fretful with the bay,
For the wander-thirst is on me
And my soul is in Cathay.

There's a schooner in the offing,
With her topsails shot with fire,
And my heart has gone aboard her
For the Islands of Desire.

I must forth again to-morrow!
With the sunset I must be

Hull down on the trail of rapture

In the wonder of the Sea.

Richard Hovey

THE LAST CHANTEY

33

WINDOW SONG

There's a ship lying in and I'd like to be aboard her. They're loading her with iron rails and cargo for the

South.

The water-line is rising with the iron that they're loading,

Down at the docks just inside the harbor mouth.

They'll be sailing in the morning with the black smoke flying

Back with the head-wind that meets the city cmoke. Blue water rippling with the long swells behind her, Marking out the path of the blue-water folk.

There's a ship lying in and I'd like to be aboard her,

Sailing in the morning with her hold full of rails — Somewhere, long ago, I stood watching at a window Men loading cargo and a harbor full of sails.

Nancy Shores

THE LAST CHANTEY

"And there was no more sea."

Thus said The Lord in the Vault above the Cherubim,

Calling to the angels and the souls in their degree:

"Lo! Earth has passed away

On the smoke of Judgment Day.

That Our Word may be established shall We gather up the sea?"

Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners: "Plague upon the hurricane that made us furl and flee!

But the war is done between us,

In the deep the Lord hath seen us—

Our bones we'll leave the barracout', and God may sink the sea!"

Then said the soul of Judas that betrayed Him: "Lord, hast Thou forgotten Thy covenant with me?

How once a year I go

To cool me on the floe,

And Ye take my day of mercy if Ye take away the sea!"

Then said the soul of the Angel of the Off-shore Wind:

(He that hits the thunder when the bull-mouthed breakers flee):

"I have watch and ward to keep

O'er Thy wonders on the deep,

And Ye take mine honour from me if Ye take away the sea!"

Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners: "Nay, but we were angry, and a hasty folk are we!

If we worked the ship together

Till she foundered in foul weather,

Are we babes that we should clamour for a vengeance on the sea?"

THE LAST CHANTEY

35

Then said the souls of the slaves that men threw

overboard:

"Kennelled in the picaroon, a weary band were

we;

But Thy arm was strong to save,

And it touched us on the wave,

And we drowsed the long tides idle till Thy Trumpets tore the sea."

Then cried the soul of the stout Apostle Paul to God:

"Once we frapped a ship, and she laboured woundily.

There were fourteen score of these,

And they blessed Thee on their knees,

When they learned Thy Grace and Glory under Malta by the sea."

Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners, Plucking at their harps, and they plucked unhandily:

"Our thumbs are rough and tarred,

And the tune is something hard

May we lift a Deepsea Chantey such as seamen use at sea?”

Then said the souls of the gentlemen-adventurers— Fettered wrist to bar all for red iniquity: "Ho, we revel in our chains

O'er the sorrow that was Spain's;

Heave or sink it, leave or drink it, we were masters of the sea!"

Up spake the soul of a gray Gothavn 'speckshioner

(He that led the flinching in the fleets of fair Dundee):

"Ho, the ringer and right whale,

And the fish we struck for sale!

Will Ye whelm them all for wantonness that wallow in the sea?"

Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners, Crying: "Under Heaven, here is neither lead or lea!

Must we sing for evermore

On the windless, glassy floor?

Take back your golden fiddles and we'll beat to open sea!"

Then stooped the Lord, and He called the good sea up to Him,

And 'stablished his borders unto all eternity,
That such as have no pleasure

For to praise the Lord by measure,

They may enter into galleons and serve Him on the sea.

Sun, wind, and cloud shall fail not from the face of it, Stinging, ringing spindrift, nor the fulmar flying

free;

And the ships shall go abroad

To the glory of the Lord

Who heard the silly sailor-folk and gave them

back their sea!

Rudyard Kipling