Living

We be three poor mariners

by Anonymous (Elizabethan songs) c. 1588–1630

From Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1891)

Living

We be three poor mariners,
Newly come from the seas;
We spend our lives in jeopardy
While others live at ease.
Shall we go dance the round, the round,
Shall we go dance the round?
And he that is a bully boy
Come pledge me on this ground!

We care not for those martial men
That do our states disdain;
But we care for the merchant men
Who do our states maintain:
To them we dance this round, around,
To them we dance this round;
And he that is a bully boy
Come pledge me on this ground!

✦ ✦ ✦

From Deuteromelia, 1609.

MLA

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “We be three poor mariners.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/159/.

Chicago

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “We be three poor mariners.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/159/.

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