A CHEER to keep our hearts up, <br />A cup to drown our tears, <br />And we'll talk of those who perished, <br />Our mates in former years. <br />The Betsey was a vessel <br />As tight as ship could be-- <br />And we cheered to keep our hearts up, <br />As she tossed upon the sea. <br /> <br />Thro' one dark day we struggled <br />To stem the foaming tide; <br />Night came--the straining vessel <br />All helplessly did ride. <br />The storm was raging loudly, <br />The angry heavens did frown-- <br />A cheer to keep your hearts up-- <br />The Betsey, she went down! <br /> <br />The morning broke which many <br />Might never see again, <br />And thick and blind and heavy <br />Came down the drenching rain <br />We got the smallest boat out, <br />Jack, Tom, and I, and gave <br />A cheer to keep our hearts up, <br />As we toiled against the wave. <br /> <br />Three days we struggled onward, <br />Without a sight of land; <br />And we grew so faint and failing, <br />We could scarcely bear a hand. <br />It's a bitter thing to battle <br />With the ocean for your foe: <br />We cheered to keep our hearts up, <br />But the cheer was hoarse and low. <br /> <br />Then we thought, with sinking spirits, <br />Of the shore we'd never see: <br />Tom wept, and thought of Mary-- <br />Jack talked of home with me. <br />Each brawny arm grew fainter, <br />The boat was thinly stored: <br />A cheer to keep your hearts up-- <br />Poor Jack went overboard! <br /> <br />At last, somehow we landed <br />Where the cliff was steep and high; <br />We told Jack's poor old mother, <br />(We were too much men to cry.) <br />They'd ha' liked to see me Boatswain, <br />The Betsey's gallant crew. <br />Come, a cheer to keep our hearts up, <br />We shall all of us die too.<br /><br />Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-boatswain-s-song/
