He gave us all a good-bye cheerily <br />At the first dawn of day; <br />We dropped him down the side full drearily <br />When the light died away. <br />It's a dead dark watch that he's a-keeping there, <br />And a long, long night that lags a-creeping there, <br />Where the Trades and the tides roll over him <br />And the great ships go by. <br /> <br />He's there alone with green seas rocking him <br />For a thousand miles round; <br />He's there alone with dumb things mocking him, <br />And we're homeward bound. <br />It's a long, lone watch that he's a-keeping there, <br />And a dead cold night that lags a-creeping there, <br />While the months and the years roll over him <br />And the great ships go by. <br /> <br />I wonder if the tramps come near enough <br />As they thrash to and fro, <br />And the battle-ships' bells ring clear enough <br />To be heard down below; <br />If through all the lone watch that he's a-keeping there, <br />And the long, cold night that lags a-creeping there, <br />The voices of the sailor-men shall comfort him <br />When the great ships go by.<br /><br />Sir Henry Newbolt<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/messmates/
