(Oh! had they known it was the last
Their beaming eyes would ever see;
Oh, had they known this one repast,
Preceded their eternity!—
Oh! had they known what sighs and sobs,
What streams of tears would sadly flit,
What beating breasts, what aching throbs,
And how the sturdiest brow would knit—
They would have stagger’d on the deck!
They would have shudder’d at their fate!