Never Succumb to the Sea: A Ballad

Photo credit to Andy Holmes on Unsplash.

Never Succumb to the Sea

I was a lad on my Grandfather’s knee

Hearing the tales of the captive and free

And what he said as he whispered to me

Was, Never succumb to the sea.

I was a boy, I worked for the smithy

All that I knew was the heat I could see

But all my Master muttered quietly to me

Was, Never succumb to the sea.

I was a lover who sat in a tree

A soldier was I, a soldier to be

But all that was said as I left lovely she

Was, Never succumb to the sea.

I was a man who held bloody he

My officer, friend, dying slowly

But the last thing he said as his spirit ran free

Was, Never succumb to the sea.

My brother and I, my brother and we

We stood on the shore and we looked at the sea

We boarded a ship, sang a song to thee

And cried, Cowards are not who we’ll be.