These Expeditions Poem by John Alexander Ross McKellar

Ten years ago I climbed a hill,
And there I climbed a tree,
So, through the mist and raining, watched
The troopships go to sea.
A2—A6—the numbered list
Steamed out in plunging chain,
Till, hull down in the closing mist,
I lost them in the rain.

So now and then I wonder
If any Grecian boy
Climbed to the highest hill to watch
The ships put out for Troy;
And on his thumbnail biting,
While they went out to war,
Fain would have gone a-fighting
With Helen for a star.