Page:Masterpieces of German literature volume 18.djvu/391

Against the hatches angry waves are splashing—
Then it comes over me: to wander, wander
Forever with those thousand others yonder!
Many I've seen for years, but ever more
New-comers join—each night a mighty band!
Sometimes I find one whom I knew before;
He nods and dumbly stretches out his hand.
And many a comrade in that silent throng
I've borne upon my back or dragged along.
I see them, all the sea did ever swallow;
The others too I see: those yet to follow.
Many a youth who laughs with us today,
Upon whose heart no thoughts of dying weigh.
And step for step through all the night we go,
Deep, deep down there.
Jan Witt, ah, well you know,
No shaking then can wake me from my dream,
And should you shout to wake the dead, and scream.
But I come back at early dawn of day,
When in the east the blackness turns to gray;
Then I awake. My head is dull and weighs
Like lead. And then I cannot laugh for days.
Ho, fellows, why so dumb? A roundelay!
For what the morrow brings, who cares today?
Heads high and gay! Our sailor's custom keep!
We men, when we're at home or when we fare
On foreign seas, each day our shroud must wear.
And He above—He also knows the deep!