Elegy Poem by Cicely Fox Smith

“So the Ol’ Man’s gone,” said Bill - “ol’ Cap’n Warren
I signed with onst in the clipper
Rathlin Head;

‘E give up the sea after they sold ‘is ship foreign.
An’ he lived to be eighty-odd, an’ now ‘e’s dead.

‘E was an ‘ard ol’ case, a tough ol’ terror,
w’en you felt ‘is fist it was like a kick from an ‘orse;
but one thing I’ll tell you, an’ no fatal error:
‘E was a grand seaman as ever set a course.

An ‘ard-‘ittin’, ‘ard-livin’, ‘ard-swearin’ ol’ sinner -
That was ‘im,” said Bill. And struck his palm on the bar;
“But nobody never passed ‘is ship while ‘e was in ‘er,
An’ ‘e drove ‘er for twenty years an’ never lost a spar.

‘E was a tough ol’ nut an ‘ard ol’ devil
as ever walked the weather side of a poop,” Bill said,
“A cross-grained ol’ cuss as didn’t know ‘ow to be civil
Either to God or man - an’ I’m kind o’ sorry ‘e’s dead.”