Page:Merryman songster.pdf/22

22 PARODY ON "THE SEA."

The seaǃ the seaǃ Oh meǃ oh meǃ The pail-be quick! I quail-I'm sick- I'm sick as I can be; I cannot stir-I cannot stand; I prithee, steward, lend a hand, To my cabin I'll go-to my berth will I hie And like a cradled infant lie. I'm on the seaǃ-I'm on the seaǃ I am where I never would be; With the smoke above, and the steam below; And sickness wheresoe'er I go; If a storm should come-no matter, I wot; To the bottom I'd go-as soon as but.

I love, oh! how I love to ride, In a neat post-chaise, with a couple of bays, And a pretty girl by my side; But, ohǃ to swim amidst fire and foam, And be steamed like a mealy potato at home; And to feel that no soul cares more for your woe That the paddles that clatter as onward they go, The ocean's wave I ne'er moved o'er, But I loved my donkey more and more, And homeward flow to her bonny back, Like a truant boy, or a sandman's sack; And a mother shows and is to me; For I was-an ass-to go to seaǃ

The fields were green, and blue the morn, And still as a mouse the little house Where I-where I was born; And my father whistled, my mother smiled, While my donkey bray'd in scents mild; Nor ever was heard such an outcry of joy, As welcomed to life the beautiful boy! I have lived since then, in calm and strife, With my peaceful donkey and termagent wife; With a spur for the one, and a whip for the other; Yet ne'er have wish'd to change with another; And a proverb of old will apply well to me- 'Who is born to be hang'd will not die on the sea.'