Classic Poem

Tis three years & a quarter sin I left my own fireside
To go aboard a ship through love & plough the ocean wide
I cross'd my native fields where the scarlet poppies grew
And the ground lark left his nest like a neighbour which I knew

The pigeons from the dove cote cooed over the old lane
The crow flocks from the oakwood went flopping o'er the grain
Like lots of dear old neighbours whom I shall see no more
They greeted me that morning I left the English shore

The sun was just a rising above the heath o' furze
And the shadows grow to giants that bright ball never stirs
There lay the shepherds with their dogs by their side
And they started up and bark'd as my shadow they espied

A maid o' early morning twirl'd her mop upon the moor
I wished her my farewell before she closed the door
My fields I left behind me for other places new
Crows & pigeons all were strangers as oer my head they flew

Trees and bushes were all strangers the hedges & the lanes
The steeples & the houses & broad untrodden plains
I pass'd the pretty milk maid wi' her red & rosy face
I know not where I met her I was strange to the place

At last I saw the Ocean a pleasing sight to me
I stood upon the shore of a mighty glorious sea
The waves in easy motion went rolling on their way
English colours were a flying where the British Squadron lay

I left my honest parents the church clock & the village
I left the lads & lasses the labour and the tillage
To plough the briny ocean which soon became my joy
I sat and sang among the shrouds a lonely sailor boy