When in-watch on deck ’tis his duty to keep;
Nor of painful reflection to weaken the power,
Nor chase from his eyelids the pinions of sleep.
Tis so sad...‘tis so sweet... and some tones come so
swelling,
So right from the heart, and so pure to the ear;—
That sure at this moment his thoughts must be dwelling
On one who is absent, most kind and most dear.
Perhaps on a mother his mind loves to linger,
Whose wants to relieve, the rough seas hath he