A BALLAD OF THE SEA.
15
Then as gladsome friends flocked round him, Spoke the captain Jacques Lenore,Two of our brave lads in ocean, Lie with salt waves gurgling o'er.One, a brave, and faithful seaman, Jean Leclerq, from Bordeaux town,From the mast-head's height was swept. By the fierceness of the storm.
And his brave and gallant ship-mate, In the shock of sudden grief:O'er the ship's side, bounded wildly, To his loved one's, vain relief.And the hungry waves dashed o'er them, Neither boat nor rope could reach.And in coral caverns darkling, There they lie, hands clasped in each.
When one day we chanced to open, Our dead comrade's oaken chest,There we found the sweet girl-letters, To the lad, that she loved best;Then we knew our bravest seaman, Was a woman, young and fair,For when Love holds woman captive, Every danger she will dare.
