How oft at the dawn of the…

How oft at the dawn of the day, As my vessel swam o'er the calm deep, In my cot as I silently lay, My eyelids were strangers to sleep; My heart that could brave ev'ry foe, To love was still tender and kind, And tho' forc'd from my fair one to go, She still was the first in my mind.

When all hands by the boatswain are bid To right when we ride in a storm, Still the tear in my eye is not hid, For there I beheld her fair form; The wave as it wash'd o'er the deck, Tho' rude, was a friend to my dear, When the storm had bespatter'd my check, Unseen I could wipe off the tear.