Ye sing a song of the young men
In the pride of an early strength,
Ye sing a song of the young men
And ye give it goodly length;
_I_ sing a song of the old men--
Of the men on a homeward tack
And a steady wheel and an even keel
That never a wind may rack.
Ye sing a song of the strong men
In the birth of a splendid youth,
Ye sing a song of the strong men
And ye sing mayhap in truth;
But I--I sing of the old men
Who’ve weathered the outer seas,
And lifting the bark through the growing dark,
Bear back in the sunset breeze.
Ye sing a song of the young men
Ere they reach the second stake,
And a name to choose and a name to lose
In the scruff of the rudder’s wake;
But I--I sing of the old men
In the glow of the tempered days,
Whose chartings show the paths to go
Through the mesh of a million ways.
Ye sing a song of the strong men
In the flush of the first fair blow,
Ye sing a song of the strong men
Or ever the end ye know;
But I--I sing of the old men--
Time-tested--weathered brown--
Who unafraid the port have made,
Where all brave ships go down.