Digital Tradition Mirror

Three Fishers

Three Fishers
(Charles Kingsley and John Hull)

Three fishers went sailing out into the west
Out into the west as the sun went down
Each thought on the woman that loved him the best
And the children stood watching them out of the town
  For the men must work and the women must weep
  For there's little to earn and many to keep
  And the harbour bar be moaning

Three wives sat up in the lighthouse tower
They trimmed the lamps as the sun went down
And they looked at the squall and they looked at the shower
And the night-wrack came rolling in, ragged and brown
  For the men must work and the women must weep
  'Though storms be sudden and waters be deep
  And the harbour bar be moaning

Three corpses lay out on the shining sand
In the morning gleam as the tide went down
And the women were weeping and wringing their hands
For those who would never come back to the town
  For the men must work and the women must weep
  And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep
  And goodbye to that bar and its moaning

Copyright Charles Kingsley and John Hull
note: I heard it on a Joan Baez recording, and I believe that
it's in one of her songbooks.AW

AW
OCT98

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!

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