Deep Water Jack Poem by Cicely Fox Smith

O it's 'ah fare ye well,' for the deep sea's crying,
You thought you could forget it, but it's no use trying,
Trying to forget it when it calls you so! . . .
Hey, Deep Water Johnnie, kiss your girl and go!

Here's warmth and soft living, and an easy bed!
It's toil, and much peril, that you're going to instead,
Hard life, and bitter faring, and a poor man's fee
Are all of a man's portion that follows the sea.

But it's 'ah fare ye well,' the deep sea's calling
Back to cold and hunger and heaving and hauling,
To decks awash and frozen yards, as very well you know:
But ah! Deep Water Johnnie, kiss your girl and go!

How can a man help it, when the God that made him
Set his feet to follow where the four winds bade him?
How should a man help it, when his heart goes jigging
To the sea's song and the sail's song and wind through the rigging?

And it's 'ah fare ye well,' for the deep sea's crying!
You thought you could forget it, but it's no use trying,
Trying to forget it when it calls you so! . . .
Hey, Deep Water Johnnie, kiss your girl and go!