The true ship is the ship builder.

The true ship is the ship builder.

And the wind plays on those great sonorous harps, the shrouds and
masts of ships.

And the wind plays on those great sonorous harps, the shrouds and
masts of ships.

A strong nor'wester's blowing, Bill;
Hark! don't ye hear it roar now?
Lord help 'em, how I read more

A strong nor'wester's blowing, Bill;
Hark! don't ye hear it roar now?
Lord help 'em, how I pities them
Unhappy folks on shore, now.

Ships that sailed for sunny isles,
But never came to shore.

Ships that sailed for sunny isles,
But never came to shore.

Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being
drowned.

Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being
drowned.

Where lies the land, to which the ship would go?Far, far ahead is all, her seamen know.And where the land read more

Where lies the land, to which the ship would go?Far, far ahead is all, her seamen know.And where the land she travels from?Away, far far behind, is all that they can say.

The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Burned on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
read more

The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Burned on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
The winds were lovesick with them; the oars were silver,
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
The water which they beat to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes.

The wooden wall alone should remain unconquered.

The wooden wall alone should remain unconquered.

It would have been as though he [President Andrew Johnson] were
in a boat of stone with masts of read more

It would have been as though he [President Andrew Johnson] were
in a boat of stone with masts of steel, sails of lead, ropes of
iron, the devil at the helm, the wrath of God for a breeze, and
hell for his destination.