Poems: New and Old (Newbolt)/Messmates

by Henry Newbolt

Messmates

 

He gave us all a good-bye cheerilyAt the first dawn of day;We dropped him down the side full drearilyWhen the light died away.It's a dead dark watch that he's a-keeping there,And a long, long night that lags a-creeping there,Where the Trades and the tides roll over himAnd the great ships go by.

He's there alone with green seas rocking himFor a thousand miles round;He's there alone with dumb things mocking him,And we're homeward bound.It's a long, lone watch that he's a-keeping there,And a dead cold night that lags a-creeping there,While the months and the years roll over himAnd the great ships go by.

I wonder in the tramps come near enoughAs they thrash to and fro,And the battle-ships' bells ring clear enoughTo be heard down below; If through all the lone watch that he's a-keeping there,And the long, cold night that lags a-creeping there,The voices of the sailor-men shall comfort himWhen the great ships go by.