wee,
And went as a sailor-boy over the sea.
He sailed in a ship to some far distant shore;
A storm came—and—and—we saw him no more.
It was long, long ago that deep sorrow we bore!
The lads who were talking, as happy as kings,
Of the coming of Christmas and all that it brings,
Are fathers now, so stately and tall.
Their children play by the garden wall,
And swing on the boughs of the apple tree,