There's a light out there in the nearer east <br />In the dawn of Nineteen Nine; <br />There’s the old ghost light in the salty yeast <br />Where the black rocks meet the brine. <br />Here’s the same old strife and toil in vain— <br />Here’s the same old hope and doubt— <br />Here’s the same old useless care and pain— <br />And the sea is my way out— <br />My dear— <br />The sea is my way out. <br />’Tis a grey and a sad old sea for me— <br />With a growing grey head too. <br />Oh, the heads were brown and the eyes were bright <br />When the sea was white and blue. <br />It was round the world and home again, <br />We could turn and turn about, <br />And the sea means exile now in vain, <br />But the sea is my way out— <br />My dear— <br />The sea is my way out.<br /><br />Henry Lawson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/nineteen-nine/
