The sea goes up; the sky comes down. Oh, can you spy the ancient town,— The granite hills so hard and gray, That rib the land behind the bay?
O ye ho, boys! Spread her wings! Fair winds, boys: send her home! O ye ho! Three years? Is it so long that we
Have lived upon the lonely sea? Oh, often I thought we'd see the town, When the sea went up, and the sky came down. O ye ho, boys! Spread her wings!
Fair winds, boys: send her home! O ye ho! Even the winter winds would rouse A memory of my father's house;
For round his windows and his door They made the same deep, mouthless roar. O ye ho, boys! Spread her wings! Fair winds, boys: send her home!
O ye ho! And when the summer's breezes beat, Methought I saw the sunny street Where stood my Kate. Beneath her hand
She gazed far out, far out from land. O ye ho, boys! Spread her wings! Fair winds, boys: send her home! O ye ho!
Farthest away, I oftenest dreamed That I was with her. Then, it seemed A single stride the ocean wide Had bridged, and brought me to her side.
O ye ho, boys! Spread her wings! Fair winds, boys: send her home. O ye ho! But though so near we're drawing, now,
‘ T is farther off —— I know not how. We sail and sail: we see no home. Would we into the port were come! O ye ho, boys! Spread her wings!
Fair winds, boys: send her home! O ye ho! At night, the same stars o'er the mast: The mast sways round — however fast
We fly — still sways and swings around One scanty circle's starry bound. O ye ho, boys! Spread her wings! Fair winds, boys: send her home!
O ye ho! Ah, many a month those stars have shone, And many a golden morn has flown, Since that so solemn, happy morn,
When, I away, my babe was born. O ye ho, boys! Spread her wings! Fair winds, boys: send her home! O ye ho!
And, though so near we're drawing, now, ‘ T is farther off — I know not how — I would not aught amiss had come To babe or mother there, at home!
O ye ho, boys! Spread her wings! Fair winds, boys: send her home! O ye ho! ‘ T is but a seeming: swiftly rush
The seas, beneath. I hear the crush Of foamy ridges‘ gainst the prow. Longing outspeeds the breeze, I know. O ye ho, boys! Spread her wings!
Fair winds, boys: send her home! O ye ho! Patience, my mates! Though not this eve We cast our anchor, yet believe,
If but the wind holds, short the run: We‘ ll sail in with to-morrow's sun. O ye ho, boys! Spread her wings! Fair winds, boys: send her home!
O ye ho!
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