SAILOR-BOY'S SONG

Away, away, o'er the bounding sea

My spirit flies like a gull;

For I know my Mary is watching for me,

And the moon is bright and full.

She sits on the rock by the sounding shore,

And gazes over the sea;

And she sighs, “Will my sailor-boy come no more?

Will he never come back to me?”

The moonbeams play in her raven hair;

And the soft breeze kisses her brow;

But if your sailor-boy, love, were there,

He would kiss your sweet lips I trow.

And mother — she sits in the cottage-door;

But her heart is out on the sea;

And she sighs, “Will my sailor-boy come no more?

Will he never come back to me?”

Ye winds that over the billows roam

With a low and sullen moan,

O swiftly come to waft me home;

O bear me back to my own.

For long have I been on the billowy deep,

On the boundless waste of sea;

And while I sleep there are two who weep,

And watch and pray for me.

When the mad storm roars till the stoutest fear

And the thunders roll over the sea,

I think of you, Mary and mother dear,

For I know you are thinking of me.

Then blow, ye winds, for my swift return;

Let the tempest roar o'er the main;

Let the billows yearn and the lightning burn;

They will hasten me home again.