Explore "Anchor Song" by Rudyard Kipling on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Heh! Walk her round. Heave, ah heave her short again! / Over, snatch her over, there, and hold her on the pawl. / Loose all sail, and brace your yards back and full -- / Ready jib to pay her off and heave short all! / Well, ah fare you well; we can stay no more with you, my love -- / Down, set down your liquor and your girl from off your knee; / For the wind has come to say: / "You must take me while you may, / If you'd go to Mother Carey / (Walk her down to Mother Carey! ), / Oh, we're bound to Mother Carey where she feeds her chicks at sea!"
Heh! Walk her round. Break, ah break it out o' that! / Break our starboard-bower out, apeak, awash, and clear. / Port -- port she casts, with the harbour-mud beneath her foot, / And that's the last o' bottom we shall see this year! / Well, ah fare you well, for we've got to take her out again -- / Take her out in ballast, riding light and cargo-free. / And it's time to clear and quit / When the hawser grips the bitt, / So we'll pay you with the foresheet and a promise from the sea!