"How's my boy--my boy? What care I for the men, sailor? I'm not their mother. How's my boy--my boy? Tell me of him and no other! How's my boy--my boy?" THE SAILOR'S RETURN This morn I lay a-dreaming, This morn, this merry morn; When the cock crew shrill from over the hill, I heard a bugle horn. And through the dream I was dreaming, There sighed the sigh of the sea, And through the dream I was dreaming, This voice came singing to me:-- "High over the breakers, Low under the lee, Sing ho! The billow, And the lash of the rolling sea! "Boat, boat, to the billow, Boat, boat, to the lee! Love, on thy pillow, Art thou dreaming of me? "Billow, billow, breaking, Land us low on the lee! For sleeping or waking, Sweet love, I am coming to thee! "High, high, o'er the breakers, Low, low, on the lee, Sing ho! The billow That brings me back to thee!" AFLOAT AND ASHORE "Tumble and rumble, and grumble and snort, Like a whale to starboard, a whale to port; Tumble and rumble, and grumble and snort, And the steamer steams thro' the sea, love!" "I see the ship on the sea, love; I stand alone On this rock; The sea does not shock The stone; The waters around it are swirled, But under my feet I feel it go down To where the hemispheres meet At the adamant heart of the world. Oh that the rock would move! Oh that the rock would roll To meet thee over the sea, love! Surely my mighty love Should fill it like a soul, And it should bear me to thee, love; Like a ship on the sea, love, Bear me, bear me, to thee, love!" "Guns are thundering, seas are sundering, crowds are wondering, Low on our lee, love. Over and over the cannon-clouds cover brother and lover, but over and over The whirl-wheels trundle the sea, love; And on through the loud pealing pomp of her cloud The great ship is going to thee, love, Blind to her mark, like a world through the dark, Thundering, sundering, to the crowds wondering, Thundering over to thee, love."