The Poetry Corner

Andy Battle

By Walter De La Mare

Once and there was a young sailor, yeo ho! And he sailed out over the say For the isles where pink coral and palm branches blow, And the fire-flies turn night into day, Yeo ho! And the fire-flies turn night into day. But the Dolphin went down in a tempest, yeo ho! And with three forsook sailors ashore, The portingales took him wh'ere sugar-canes grow, Their slave for to be evermore, Yeo ho! Their slave for to be evermore. With his musket for mother and brother, yeo ho! He warred with the Cannibals drear, in forests where panthers pad soft to and fro, And the Pongo shakes noonday with fear, Yeo ho! And the Pongo shakes noonday with fear. Now lean with long travail, all wasted with woe, With a monkey for messmate and friend, He sits 'neath the Cross in the cankering snow, And waites for his sorrowful end, Yeo ho! And waits for his sorrowful end.