Seamen Three
Seamen Three
Original Text
Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey (London: T. Hookham Jr., and Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1818). B-10 8002 Fisher Rare Book Library
1Seamen three! What men be ye?
2Gotham's three wise men we be.
3Whither in your bowl so free?
4To rake the moon from out the sea.
5The bowl goes trim. The moon doth shine.
6And our ballast is old wine;
7And your ballast is old wine.
8Who art thou, so fast adrift?
9I am he they call Old Care.
10Here on board we will thee lift.
11No: I may not enter there.
12Wherefore so? 'Tis Jove's decree,
13In a bowl Care may not be;
14In a bowl Care may not be.
15Fear ye not the waves that roll?
16No: in charmed bowl we swim.
17What the charm that floats the bowl?
18Water may not pass the brim.
19The bowl goes trim. The moon doth shine.
20And our ballast is old wine;
21And your ballast is old wine.
Publication Start Year
1818
RPO poem Editors
J. D. Robins
RPO Edition
2RP.2.157; RPO 1996-2000.
Rhyme