NAMESAKES
Alfred Noyes · 1922
But where's the brown drifter that went out alone?
--_Roll and go, and fare you well_--
Was her name Peggy Nutten? That name is my own.
_Fare you well, my sailor._
They sang in the dark, "Let her go! Let her go!"
And she sailed to the West, where the broad waters flow;
And the others come back, but ... the bitter winds blow.
_Ah, fare you well, my sailor._
The women, at evening, they wave and they cheer.
--_Roll and go, and fare you well_--
They're waiting to welcome their lads at the pier.
_Fare you well, my sailor._
They're all coming home in the twilight below;
But there's one little boat.... Let her go! Let her go!
She carried my heart, and a heart for the foe.
_Ah, fare you well, my sailor._
The _Nell_ and the _Maggie_, the _Ruth_ and the _Joan_,
--_Roll and go, and fare you well_--
They come to their namesakes, and leave me alone.
_Fare you well, my sailor._
And names are kep' dark, for the spies mustn't know;
But they'll look in my face, an' I think it will show;
Peggy Nutten's my name. Let her go! let her go!
_Ah, fare you well, my sailor._