A French Sailor's Scottish Sweetheart

By
William Johnson Cory
1823 - 1892

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I can not forget my Jo;

I bid him be mine in sleep:

But battle and woe have changed him so,

There's nothing to do but weep.
 

My mother rebukes me yet, ---

And I never was meek before:

His jacket is wet, his lip cold set, ---

He'll trouble our home no more.
 

O, breaker of reeds that bend !

O, quencher of tow that smokes !

I'd rather descend to my sailor friend

Than prosper with lofty folks.
 

I'm lying beside the gowan

My Jo in the English bay;

I'm Annie Rowan, his Annie Rowan, --

He call'd me his Bien-Aimée.
 

I'll harken to all you quote,

Though I'd rather be dead and free;

The little he wrote in the sinking boat

Is Bible and charm to me.

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