Page:The songs that Quinte sang.djvu/25

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And I watched them as they sailed afar
Till I saw the top of each slender spar
Fade beyond the horizon’s bar,
But my heart was light and gay.
For why should I feel a throb of fear
When the wind blew fair and the sky was clear
So my heart was light with hope and cheer
As I watched them sail away.

But often my heart grew sick with fear
For my ships were gone for many a year
And O, but the nights were long and drear
And the days dragged wearily,
And often when others were fast asleep
And the angry storm king rode the deep,
The whole night long I would watch and weep
For my bonnie ships at sea.

But they bring me glad, good news to-day,
“Oh! Your ships are coming in,” they say,
“You can see them gliding up the bay
In the glow of the morning sun.”
Oh! My ships are in with their cargoes rare
And their colors streaming in the air
My bonnie ships, so brave and fair,
They are all in—save one.

The Golden Hope with topmasts tall
Hides like a queen among them all,
But a fairy shallop, frail and small,
The dearest of all to me,
One night when the winds and waves were high
Went down to her doom ’neath a pitiless sky,
And never a thought for the rest have I
Since Love went down at sea.