University of Virginia Library


45

SAILOR'S SONG.

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The following is the translation of a German Song, sung by the Germanians at Newport, in the summer of 1849.

Hark! a merry Sailor's song!
Ho-ee-ho!
Sound it loud the sea along!
Ho-heave-o!
Now to Northern shores I sing,
Now the South shall hear it ring;
Overboard all care we fling!
When the sea is bellying rough,
Ho-ee-ho!
I my pipe-smoke at him puff,
Ho-heave-o!

46

Fish in sunshine leap and gleam,
Sharks behind us swim the stream,
And the sea-gulls wildly scream.
When the tempests make her creak,
Ho-ee-ho!
Up I climb the top-mast peak,
Ho-heave-o!
“Cheer up, Captain!” then I cry,
“Winds are fair, I see blue sky;
Let the gallant streamers fly!”
One thing clouds a Sailor's bliss,
Ho-ee-ho!
Ah, I pine for Peggy's kiss!
Ho-heave-o!
Thinking when the tempests blow
On that bosom's lily-snow,
True love racks my heart with woe!

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Ah, but when the port is nigh,
Ho-ee-ho!
And I see her bright black eye,
Ho-heave-o!
Oh, so wild that glance of bliss,
After such a long, long miss,—
Ten thousand times my Peg I kiss!