I top the white waves, or laugh in great glee,

As a ducking I get when they top over me.

And I think, oh! how jolly my master must feel,

With the rain at his back, and the mud at his heel!

I’m a float! I’m a float! and I’m fair on the job,

If the fishes below only give me a bob!

Sometimes, when the water’s not “soupy” in tint,

At the pebbly bottom I take a sly squint;

And then, if I see a big scaly’un look

With a half-doubting eye at the worm-covered hook,