Poetry Archives

Three fishers went sailing away to the west—
  Away to the west as the sun went down;
Each thought on the woman who loved him the best,
  And the children stood watching them out of the town;
For men must work, and women must weep;
And there’s little to earn, and many to keep,
    Though the harbor bar be moaning.

Three wives sat up in the lighthouse tower,
  And they trimm’d the lamps as the sun went down;
They look’d at the squall, and they look’d at the shower,
  And the night-rack came rolling up, ragged and brown;
But men must work, and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
    And the harbor bar be moaning.

Three corpses lay out on the shining sands
  In the morning gleam as the tide went down,
And the women are weeping and wringing their hands
  For those who will never come home to the town;
For men must work, and women must weep—
And the sooner it’s over, the sooner to sleep—
    And good-bye to the bar and its moaning.