There are many[415] who won’t believe it, but it’s gospel[416] every word;
It’s the biggest drama of any in a long,[417] adventurous life;
The scene was a ship, and the actors—were myself and my new-wed wife.
You musn’t mind if I ramble, and lose the thread now and then;
I’m old, you know, and I wander—it’s a way with old women and men,
For their lives lie all behind[418] them, and their thoughts go far away,[419]
And are tempted afield, like children, lost on a summer day.
The years must be five-and-twenty that have passed since that awful night,
But I see it again this evening, I can never shut[420] out the sight.
We were only a few weeks married, I and the wife, you know,