English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 305. Tom Bowling |
| | | Charles Dibdin (1745–1814) |
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| HERE, a sheer hulk, lies poor Tom Bowling, | |
| The darling of our crew; | |
| No more he’ll hear the tempest howling, | |
| For Death has broached him to. | |
| His form was of the manliest beauty, | 5 |
| His heart was kind and soft; | |
| Faithful below he did his duty, | |
| And now he’s gone aloft. | |
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| Tom never from his word departed, | |
| His virtues were so rare; | 10 |
| His friends were many and true-hearted, | |
| His Poll was kind and fair: | |
| And then he’d sing so blithe and jolly, | |
| Ah, many’s the time and oft! | |
| But mirth is turned to melancholy, | 15 |
| For Tom is gone aloft. | |
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| Yet shall poor Tom find pleasant weather, | |
| When He, who all commands, | |
| Shall give, to call Life’s crew together, | |
| The word to ‘pipe all hands.’ | 20 |
| Thus Death, who kings and tars dispatches, | |
| In vain Tom’s life has doffed; | |
| For though his body’s under hatches, | |
| His soul is gone aloft. | |
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