The Sailor's Bride
"'Tis plain, 'tis sad," I hear them say
"At sea, her man has died
But more the score it takes," they say
"To break the sailor's bride;
"See how she keeps a tidy dress
No pity sought her pride
And hastens not to drown her woe
Some drunkard by her side."
A rose, they say, has kissed my cheek,
"And her hips are wide —
She'll nurse a babe upon her breast
Ere salty tears have dried;
"Soon she'll trade the ashen veil
In pearly lace to hide —
Blush upon a better man,
Beneath his roof reside;
"And sweet the song she'll know to sing
When oft her child has cried
To chase the phantom ships of night
Warm by the fireside;
"Such grace be in her feather touch
Such quiet in her stride
As gulls above the sleeping wreck
Soft on the surface ride;
"By and by she'll think of him —
Smile, where once she sighed
And roll the weathered thoughts away
Fading with the tide;
"Safely moored she'll pass the years
In peace, in faith, inside,
Nor harbour ire for her lot
Nor e'er her love divide.
"She'll walk with care each mist of spring
Each winter's frost abide;
We'll call her then an honest wife
And not a sailor's bride."
Yet I would roam these cursèd cliffs
'Til all my limbs were sore,
'Til blasted winds had parched my skin
And storms for me would roar
I'd wander wild the withered land
'Til every thread I wore,
'Til from my body every scrap
Of lace and linen tore
I'd kneel before a thousand men,
Beneath a thousand more,
If the very last was you
Breathing on the shore.
