Songs of the Cavaliers and Roundheads Jacobite Ballads, &c. &c. By George W. Thornbury ... with illustrations by H. S. Marks |
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THE OLD FISHERMAN'S LAMENT. |
 | Songs of the Cavaliers and Roundheads |  |
244
THE OLD FISHERMAN'S LAMENT.
[_]
[I remember once, at a Cornish fishing-town, seeing an old fisherman sitting, on a sunny afternoon in August, upon a broken boat that lay deeply imbedded in the hot, dry, soft, crumbling sand. The old man was almost in his dotage, and was mumbling inarticulate words to himself, as he looked, with a vacant and sorrowful stare, at the advancing waves that ran swiftly up to his feet.]
The old man listens to the sea;
“Ye waves! ye stole my child from me!”
The hoarse waves splashing ceaselessly,
Roar at his feet, with a restless glee.
“Ye waves! ye stole my child from me!”
The hoarse waves splashing ceaselessly,
Roar at his feet, with a restless glee.
“Ye waves! ye stole my child from me!
Many miles hence, on the Northern sea,
By the Silver Pits, where the scud blew free,
By the shoal where the dead men wait for me.”
Many miles hence, on the Northern sea,
By the Silver Pits, where the scud blew free,
By the shoal where the dead men wait for me.”
245
“Ye waves! ye stole my child from me!
Blue was his eye, and his glance was free,
I pray to the holy Trinity,
That I may rest where my son may be.
Blue was his eye, and his glance was free,
I pray to the holy Trinity,
That I may rest where my son may be.
“The waves bring presents of agatrie,
And lay at my feet; but I and ye
Are foes,—go back, and a lullaby
Sing like a dirge where the dead men be.
And lay at my feet; but I and ye
Are foes,—go back, and a lullaby
Sing like a dirge where the dead men be.
“I cannot fish; for I know the sea
Feeds on the drowned, in the shoals that be—
Rushing together the wreck to see,
Like devils, when hell's gates open free.
Feeds on the drowned, in the shoals that be—
Rushing together the wreck to see,
Like devils, when hell's gates open free.
“Yellow his hair, and he looked at me
When the planks stove in, and I seemed to be
Newly in heaven, and thought to see
The throne, the Lamb, and the Trinity.
When the planks stove in, and I seemed to be
Newly in heaven, and thought to see
The throne, the Lamb, and the Trinity.
“White was his brow, as white to me
As the angel wings that the good men see;
I heard him pray, O mother! for thee,
When the choking waves swept over me.”
As the angel wings that the good men see;
I heard him pray, O mother! for thee,
When the choking waves swept over me.”
| Songs of the Cavaliers and Roundheads | |