Composed on board the steamship Niagara, on her voyage to New York, in August 1849.
A SONG, a song, brave hearts, a song,
o the ship in which we ride,
Which bears us along right gallantly,
Defying the mutinous tide.
Away, away, by night and day,
Propelled by steam and wind,
The watery waste before her lies,
And a flaming wake behind.
Then a ho and a hip to the gallant ship
That carries us o'er the sea,
Through storm and foam, to a western home,
The home of the brave and free.
With a fearless bound to the depths profound,
She rushes with proud disdain,
While pale lips tell the fears that swell,
Lest she never should rise again.
With a courser's pride she paws the tide,
Unbridled by bit I trow,
While the churlish sea she dashes with glee
In a cataract from her prow.
Then a ho and a hip, &c.
She bears not on board a lawless horde,
Piratic in thought or deed,
Yet the sword they would draw in defence of law,
In the nation's hour of need.
Professors and poets, and merchant men
Whose voyagings never cease ;
From shore to shore, the wide world o'er,
Their bonds are the bonds of peace.
Then a ho and a hip, &c
She boasts the brave, the dutiful,
The aged and the young,
And woman bright and beautiful,
And childhood's prattling tongue.
With a dip and a rise, like a bird she flies,
And we fear not the storm or squall;
For faithful officers rule the helm,
And heaven protects us all.
Then a ho and a hip to the gallant ship
That carries us o'er the sea,
Through storm and foam, to a western home,
The home of the brave and free. [V, 8-9]
Bibliography
Jerdan, William. “Francis Bennoch” in Charles Rogers’s The Modern Scottish Minstrel, or The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century 6 vols. Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1857. Hathi Trist Digital Library online version of a copy in the Harvard University Library. Web. 14 July 2020.
Last modified 14 July 2020