The Poetry Corner

Sailor's Song, Returning

By George Parsons Lathrop

The sea goes up; the sky comes down. Oh, can you spy the ancient town, - The granite hills so green and gray, That rib the land behind the bay? O ye ho, boys. Spread her wings! Fair winds, boys: send her home! O ye ho! Three years? Is it so long that we Have lived upon the lonely sea? Oh, often I thought we'd see the town, When the sea went up, and the sky came down. O ye ho, boys. Spread her wings! Even the winter winds would rouse A memory of my father's house; For round his windows and his door They made the same deep, mouthless roar. O ye ho, boys. Spread her wings! And when the summer's breezes beat, Methought I saw the sunny street Where stood my Kate. Beneath her hand She gazed far out, far out from land. O ye ho, boys. Spread her wings! Farthest away, I oftenest dreamed That I was with her. Then it seemed A single stride the ocean wide Had bridged, and brought me to her side. O ye ho, boys. Spread her wings! But though so near we're drawing, now, 'T is farther off - I know not how. We sail and sail: we see no home. Would that we into port were come! O ye ho, boys. Spread her wings! At night, the same stars o'er the mast: The mast sways round - however fast We fly - still sways and swings around One scanty circle's starry bound. O ye ho, boys. Spread her wings! Ah, many a month those stars have shone, And many a golden morn has flown, Since that so solemn, happy morn, When, I away, my babe was born. O ye ho, boys. Spread her wings! And, though so near we're drawing, now, 'T is farther off - I know not how: - I would not aught amiss had come To babe or mother there, at home! O ye ho, boys. Spread her wings! 'T is but a seeming: swiftly rush The seas, beneath. I hear the crush Of foamy ridges 'gainst the prow. Longing outspeeds the breeze, I know. O ye ho, boys. Spread her wings! Patience, my mates! Though not this eve We cast our anchor, yet believe, If but the wind holds, short the run: We'll sail in with to-morrow's sun. O ye ho, boys. Spread her wings! Fair winds, boys: send her home! O ye ho!