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the cabin boy.
The Cabin Boy.
He knelt, received her blessing, and departed,
The big tears rolling o'er his cheek like rain;
And she, the mourning one, the lonely-hearted,
Wept for her wanderer on the stormy main.
How happy was she when her boy was near her!
With him, alas! she saw each joy depart.
Who, in his absence, could have power to cheer her?—
The fair young darling of her widow'd heart.

For ev'ry gale must wake each sad emotion,
And fancy conjure up such fearful things—
She'll see him struggling in the ruthless ocean,
As to the drifting wreck he wildly clings.
Two years must roll away, of hope and sorrow,
Ere she shall on the deep his bark descry;
But her fond prayer shall follow him each morrow,
And night, in dreams, restore her Cabin Boy.

Time has roll'd on: to England now returning,
The proud bark lightly bounds o'er sunny seas;
Her white sails gleaming in the beams of morning,
And graceful swelling in the homeward breeze.