One evening last Summer
As I lay down to sleep
I spied a lad about 6 years old
At his mother’s knee did weep
Saying why don’t father’s ship come in
And why don’t he come home
While other ships are sailing in
Spreading the ocean foam

He said six months he would be gone
Leaving you and I alone
And through the long dark winter nights
Six months have passed? Come? and gone
So why don’t father’s ship come in
Oh Mother please tell me why
And why don’t father’s ship come in
What makes you weep and cry

My boy your father’s long voyage is o’er
You’ll never seem him no more
For he and his tall gallant ship
Will never reach the shore
For the ship and all her cargo
Went down in the ocean deep
And the waves are rolling mountains high
Oe’r the graves where they do sleep

If this be so dear mother he cried
From the grave they cannot come
And you and I are left alone
For to lament and mourn
How well can I remember
When he nursed me on his knee
And brought to me some buds and flowers
From off the Indian tree
My boy you’re the pride of all my heart
As she pressed him to her breast
And closed her eyes to the yonder skies
Where the weary ones find rest