The Melancholy Shipwreck of the Gossamer

      Take notice all, of what may befall,
      How your life may be held on a thread,
      A gossamer token
              so easily broken,
      Forever to lie with the dead

      My name is John Thompson a Sea Captain bold,
      Just lately from China returned,
      and taken to wife
              the love of my life,
      Far better if she had me spurned

                  Grass not waves shall cover our grave,
                  Daisies shall mark where we sleep.
                  So briefly together,
                            but our love is forever.
                  Stranger, do not weep.

      For eight long days we faced the gale,
      Till a homeward beat we'd found,
      First Start then Prawle
              We'll overhaul,
      Then clear through to Plymouth Sound

      But the rip tide took us perilous close,
      The danger was seen too late,
      Both anchors dropped
              but nothing could stop,
      The Gossamer's terrible fate.

                 Grass not waves shall cover our grave,
                 Daisies shall mark where we sleep.
                 So briefly together,
                         but our love is forever.
                 Stranger, do not weep.

      With a terrible rending she drove on the rocks,
      The great seas washing her deck,
      Now the Gossamer lay
              on the rocks of the bay,
      Could any be saved from the wreck?

      Now Barbara Kerr had climbed to the deck,
      And she clung to her captain so brave,
      for to swim or to stay
              no one could say,
      and she trembled at every great wave.

                  Grass not waves shall cover our grave,
                  Daisies shall mark where we sleep.
                  So briefly together,
                          but our love is forever.
                  Stranger, do not weep.

      Then a monstrous sea tore her from his grasp,
      John Thompson leapt into the swell,
      He'll save her or die
              on the rocks of the bay,
      Ringers sound your knell

      Still tightly wrapt in each other's arms,
      Tossed ashore by the tempest they lay,
      and their lifeless bones
              to Chivelstone,
      Were gently borne away.

                  Grass not waves shall cover our grave,
                  Daisies shall mark where we sleep.
                  So briefly together,
                         but our love is forever.
                  Stranger, do not weep.