One day as I walked by Crocodile Mansions
I met a young woman, sea-green were her eyes.
And she was loud weeping by the banks of the Humber,
O, bitter the sound of her sobs and her sighs.
I asked this young woman why she was sore weeping,
‘Pray tell me,’ I said, ‘why do you grieve by the tide?’
And when I put my arm tightly around her,
In a voice like a sea bird she sadly replied,
‘I was born, sir, at Wetwang, but I left the East Riding,
With the cows and the sheep as a girl I would roam,
And if I were back with my father and brothers
I’d ne’er leave again the sweet fields of my home.’
So I led her so gently past Crocodile Mansions,
And I took her so gently by the banks of the Humber,
She gave herself freely, her eyes and her kisses,
And I gave her a gold ring and a necklet of amber.
When we parted at stardown no more was she weeping,
But the very next morning as I sailed out with the tide,
She waved to me gaily as we hove round the headland
And I yearned for her beauty to be by my side.
O, I sailed for a year and a day to the Indies
And I came back to England one green day in spring
But I had forgotten the girl with the green eyes,
The necklet of amber, the little gold ring.
But as I was strolling down the Land of Green Ginger
While our ship loaded up with a cargo for Poole,
The people they looked at me strangely and whispered,
‘O, beware of the faithless young captain from Goole.’
So I went off at once to Crocodile Mansions
To look for my dear love with sea-green eyes,
But no-one would tell me or answer my questions,
O, bitter my heart then and empty my sighs.
Then I met in ‘The Dragon’ a drunken old sailor
Who told me he’d seen her with a necklet of amber,
A little gold ring and her eyes green and staring
Floating far out to sea by the banks of the Humber.
And I walked for the last time by Crocodile Mansions,
My heart was so full I shed never a tear
O, I looked at the sea and I looked at the Humber
And in every green wave were the eyes of my dear.
The Goole Captain by Leonard Clark is copied from ‘7 Themes in Modern Verse’ selected and edited by Maurice Wollman and published by George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd in 1968.
Boz's Gaff 