The Gravedigger

Oh, the shambling sea is a sexton old,     And well his work is done.     With an equal grave for lord and knave,     He buries them every one.     Then hoy and rip, with a rolling hip,     He makes for the nearest shore;     And God, who sent him a thousand ship,     Will send him a thousand more;     But some he'll save for a bleaching grave,     And shoulder them in to shore,--     Shoulder them in, shoulder them in,     Shoulder them in to shore.     Oh, the ships of Greece and the ships of Tyre     Went out, and where are they?     In the port they made, they are delayed     With the ships of yesterday.     He followed the ships of England far,     As the ships of long ago;     And the ships of France they led him a dance,     But he laid them all arow.     Oh, a loafing, idle lubber to him     Is the sexton of the town;     For sure and swift, with a guiding lift,     He shovels the dead men down.     But though he delves so fierce and grim,     His honest graves are wide,     As well they know who sleep below     The dredge of the deepest tide.     Oh, he works with a rollicking stave at lip,     And loud is the chorus skirled;     With the burly rote of his rumbling throat     He batters it down the world.     He learned it once in his father's house,     Where the ballads of eld were sung;     And merry enough is the burden rough,     But no man knows the tongue.     Oh, fair, they say, was his bride to see,     And wilful she must have been,     That she could bide at his gruesome side     When the first red dawn came in.     And sweet, they say, is her kiss to those     She greets to his border home;     And softer than sleep her hand's first sweep     That beckons, and they come.     Oh, crooked is he, but strong enough     To handle the tallest mast;     From the royal barque to the slaver dark,     He buries them all at last.     Then hoy and rip, with a rolling hip,     He makes for the nearest shore;     And God, who sent him a thousand ship,     Will send him a thousand more;     But some he'll save for a bleaching grave,     And shoulder them in to shore,--     Shoulder them in, shoulder them in,     Shoulder them in to shore.