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Ballads of Irish chivalry

Joyce, Robert Dwyer (1836-1883)

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TO GRACIE
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BALLADS.
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SONGS.

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MY BOAT.

[_]

Air—“I'll build my love a gallant ship”.

I

My boat is like the seagull white
That skims o'er strand and swell,
It looks so bright and sails so light,
And stems the tide so well;
The soft wild gale fills out its sail
And wafts it towards the sea,
And floats me down from Cork's fair town
Upon the pleasant Lee.

II

I sit within that bonnie boat
When love o'er me has power,
When sea birds float with shrilly note
At sunset's golden hour;
Then from the shore green towering o'er
Love seems to pilot me,
To muse alone on my loved one
Upon the pleasant Lee.

III

When first my boat upon the tide
A thing of life out came,
With conscious pride upon its side
I placed my true-love's name;
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And since, each day, that name the spray
Has washed full wild and free,
But still each line undimmed doth shine,
Upon the pleasant Lee.

IV

A trim new sail my boat shall have
When summer days come on,
And swift and brave she'll walk the wave,
More stately than the swan;
For then my bloom-bright maid shall come
With love and joy to me,
And side by side we oft shall glide
Upon the pleasant Lee.
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