And the negro maids to Aves from bondage fast did
flee, To welcome gallant sailors, a-sweeping in from sea.
O sweet it was in Aves to hear the landward
breeze,
A-swing with good tobacco in a net between the trees, With a negro lass to fan you, while you listened to
the roar Of the breakers on the reef outside, that never
touched the shore.
But Scripture saith, an ending to all fine things
must be ; So the King's ships sailed on Aves, and quite put
down were we. All day we fought like bulldogs, but they burst the
booms at night; And 1 fled in a piragua, sore wounded, from the fight.
Nine days I floated starving, and a negro lass beside, Till, for all I tried to cheer her, the poor young
thing she died;
But as I lay a-gasping, a Bristol sail came by, And brought me home to England here, to beg
until I die.
And now I'm old and going I'm sure I can't tell
where ; One comfort is, this world's so hard, I can't be worse
off there:
If I might but be a sea-dove, I'd fly across the main, To the pleasant Isle of Aves, to look at it once again.
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