<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">"POOR OLD SHIP!"</h1><p class="byline"> C. FOX SMITH <br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/><span class="smallcaps">IN Punch</span><br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/>Reproduced by special permission of the Proprietors of "Punch"</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line">SHE wasn't much to brag about, she wasn't much to see,</p><p class="line">A rusty, crusty hooker as a merchant ship could be;</p><p class="line">They sunk her off the Longships light as night was coming on,</p><p class="line">And we had to go and leave her there and, poor old ship, she's gone.</p><p class="line">All that was good of her, all that was bad of her, </p><p class="line">All that we gave to her, all that we had of her, </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:11%">Poor old ship, she's gone!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The times we spent aboard her, they was oftener bad than good,</p><p class="line">But bad or good, we'd live the lot all over if we could;</p><p class="line">She's stood her trick as well as us, she's had her whack of fun,</p><p class="line">She's shared it all with sailormen, and poor old ship, she's done.</p><p class="line">Hard times and soft times and all times we've been with her,</p><p class="line">Bad days and good days and all sorts we've seen with her, </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:11%">And, poor old ship, she's gone</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">She's stuck her crazy derricks up by half a hundred quays,</p><p class="line">She's dipped her dingy duster in the spray of all the seas;</p><p class="line">Her funnels caked with Cape Horn ice and blistered in the sun,</p><p class="line">She's moseyed round above a bit, and, poor old ship, she's done.</p><p class="line">North seas and south, and they've all had a go at her,</p><p class="line">Hot winds and cold, and they've all had a blow at her, </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:11%">And, poor old ship, she's done!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">She's trailed her smudge the whole world round in weather gray and blue,</p><p class="line">She's churned a dozen oceans with her bloomin' nine-knot screw;</p><p class="line">She's sampled all the harbor mud from Cardiff to Canton,</p><p class="line">And she'll never clear another port, for, poor old ship, she's gone.</p><p class="line">Ports up and down, and she's seen many a score of 'em;</p><p class="line">Seas high and low, and she won't sail no more of 'em, </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:11%">For, poor old ship, she's gone!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And chaps that knowed her in her time, 'tween London and Rangoon,</p><p class="line">In many a sailor's drinking--place and water-front saloon, </p><p class="line">Will set their drinks down when they hear her bloomin' Yarn is spun.</p><p class="line">And say, "I sailed aboard her once, and, poor old ship, she's done.</p><p class="line">Many's the hard word I once used to spend on her,</p><p class="line">Ah, them was the great days, and now there's an end on her</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:11%">Poor old ship she's done!"</p></div></body></html> · Great War