'Twas off the Eastern Filigrees--
Wizzle the pipes o'ertop!--
When the gallant Captain of the Cheese
Began to skip and hop.
"Oh stately man and old beside,
Why dost gymnastics do?
Is such example dignified
To set before your crew?"
"Oh hang me crew," the Captain cried,
"And scuttle of me ship.
If I'm the skipper, blarst me hide!
Ain't I supposed to skip?
"I'm growing old," the Captain said;
"Me dancing days are done;
But while I'm skipper of this ship
I'll skip with any one.
"I'm growing grey," I heard him say,
"And I can not rest or sleep
While under me the troubled sea
Lies forty spasms deep.
"Lies forty spasms deep," he said;
"But still me trusty sloop
Each hour, I wot, goes many a knot
And many a bow and loop.
"The hours are full of knots," he said,
"Untie them if ye can.
In vain I've tried, for Time and Tied
Wait not for any man.
"Me fate is hard," the old man sobbed,
"And I am sick and sore.
Me aged limbs of rest are robbed
And skipping is a bore.
"But Duty is the seaman's boast,
And on this gallant ship
You'll find the skipper at his post
As long as he can skip."
And so the Captain of the Cheese
Skipped on again as one
Who lofty satisfaction sees
In duty bravely done.
[Footnote 4: From "Nautical Lays of a Landsman," by Wallace Irwin.
Copyright, 1904, by Dodd, Mead & Co.]