Page:Songs from the Southern Seas and Other Poems (1873).djvu/82

78 Every day like its brother: when the noonday eight-bells came, 'Twas like yesterday; and we seemed to know that to-morrow would be the same. The foremast hands had a lazy time: there was never a thing to do; The ship was painted, tarred down, and scraped; and the mates had nothing new. We'd worked at sinnet and ratline till there wasn't a yarn to use, And all we could do was watch and pray for a sperm whale's spout—or news. It was whaler's luck of the vilest sort; and, though many a volunteer Spent his watch below on the look-out, never a whale came near,— At least of the kind we wanted: there were lots of whales of a sort,— Killers and finbacks, and such like, as if they enjoyed the sport Of seeing a whale-ship idle; but we never lowered a boat