The Seven Seas
and Further Barrack-Room Ballads






[January 6th 2012]


The poems are listed by title; click here for a listing by first line.

Title First line Notes
An American If the Led Striker call it a strike
Anchor Song Heh! Walk her round. Heave, ah, heave her short again!

The Answer
A Rose, in tatters on the garden path
Back to the Army again' I'm 'ere in a lousy ulster and a broken billycock 'at

Bill 'Awkins
'As anybody seen Bill 'Awkins?"
Birds of Prey' March March! The mud is cakin' good about our trousies
Cholera Camp We've got the cholerer in camp - it's worse than forty fights;

The Coastwise Lights
Our brows are bound with spindrift and the weed is on our knees;
Dedication (to The Seven Seas) The cities are full of pride
The Deep Sea Cables The wrecks dissolve above us; their dust drops down from afar-
The Derelict I was the staunchest of our fleet
The ' Eathen The 'eathen in 'is blindness bows down to wood an' stone

England's Answer
Truly ye come of The Blood; slower to bless than to ban

The First Chantey
Mine was the woman to me, darkling I found her:
The Flowers Buy my English posies!
Follow me 'ome' There was no one like 'im, 'Orse or Foot
For to admire The Injian Ocean sets an' smiles

Hymn before Action
The earth is full of anger
In the Neolithic Age In the Neolithic Age savage warfare did I wage
The Jacket Through the Plagues of Egyp' we was chasin' Arabi
The King Farewell Romance!' the Cave-men said;
The Ladies I've taken my fun where I've found it
The Last Chantey Thus said the Lord in the Vault above the Cherubim
The Last Rhyme of True Thomas The King has called for priest and cup
L'Envoi (to The Seven Seas) When earth's last picture is painted
The Liner she's a lady The Liner she's a lady, an' she never looks nor 'eeds-

The Lost Legion
There's a Legion that never was 'listed
M'Andrew's Hymn Lord, Thou hast made this world below the shadow of a dream
The ' Mary Gloster' I've paid for your sickest fancies; I've humoured your crackedest whim

Mary, Pity Women!'
You call yourself a man
'The Men that fought at Minden' The men that fought at Minden, they was rookies in their time

The Merchantmen
King Solomon drew merchantmen

The Miracles
I sent a message to my dear
The Mother Lodge There was Rundle, Station Master
Mulholland's Contract The fear was on the cattle, for the gale was on the sea,

The Native Born
We've drunk to the Queen - God bless her!
The Rhyme of the Three Sealers Away by the lands of the Japanee
Sappers When the Waters were dried an' the Earth did appear
The Sea Wife There dwells a wife by the Northern Gate
The Sergeant's Weddin' E was warned agin 'er-
Sestina of the Tramp-Royal Speakin' in general, I 'ave tried 'em all-
The Shut-eye Sentry Sez the Junior Orderly Sergeant
Soldier an' Sailor too' As I was spittin' into the Ditch aboard o' the Crocodile
The Song of the Banjo You couldn't pack a Broadwood half a mile-

The Song of the Cities: Auckland
Last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart-

The Song of the Cities: Bombay
Royal and Dower-royal, I the Queen

The Song of the Cities: Brisbane
The northern stock beneath the southern skies-

The Song of the Cities: Calcutta
Me the Sea-captain loved, the River built

The Song of the Cities: Capetown
Hail! Snatched and bartered oft from hand to hand

The Song of the Cities: Halifax
Into the mist my guardian prows put forth

The Song of the Cities: Hobart
Man's love first found me; man's hate made me Hell;

The Song of the Cities: Hong Kong
Hail, Mother! Hold me fast; my Praya sleeps

The Song of the Cities: Madras
Clive kissed me on the mouth and eyes and brow

The Song of the Cities: Melbourne
Greeting! Nor fear nor favour won us place

The Song of the Cities: Quebec and Montreal
Peace is our portion. Yet a whisper rose

The Song of the Cities: Rangoon
Hail, Mother! Do they call me rich in trade?

The Song of the Cities: Singapore
Hail, Mother! East and West must seek my aid

The Song of the Cities: Sydney
Greeting! My birth-stain have I turned to good

The Song of the Cities: Victoria
From East to West the circling word has passed
The Song of the Dead Hear now the Song of the Dead - in the North by the torn berg-edges

A Song of the English
Fair is our lot - O goodly is our heritage!

The Song of the Sons
One from the ends of the earth - gifts at an open door-
The Story of Ung Once, on a glittering ice-field, ages and ages ago
That Day It got beyond all orders an' it got beyond all 'ope;
The Three-Decker Full thirty foot she towered from waterline to rail

To the True Romance. (Prelude to Many Inventions)
Thy face is far from this our war