A Sailor's Prayer

 

 

 

A Sailor's Prayer

 

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Grant no other sailor take
My shoes and socks before I wake.
Lord guard me in my slumber
And keep my hammock on its number.
May no clues nor lashings break
And let me down before I wake.
Keep me safely in thy sight
And grant no fire drill tonight.
And in the morning let me wake,
Breathing scents of sirloin steak.
God protect me in my dreams
And make this better than it seems.

 

 

Grant the time may swiftly fly
When myself shall rest on high.
In a snowy feather bed,
Where I long to rest my head,
Far away from all the scenes
And the smell of half-done beans.
Take me back into the land
Where they don't scrub down with sand,
Where no Demon Typhoon blows,
Where the women wash the clothes.
God thou knowest all my woes,
Feed me in my dying throes.
Take me back I'll promise then
Never to leave home again.

 

 

 

*** Four Years Later ***

 

Our Father who art in Washington
Please, dear Father, let me stay,
Do not drive me now away.
Wipe away my scalding tears
And let me stay my thirty years.
Please forgive me all my past
And things that happened at the mast,
Do not my request refuse,
And let me stay another cruise.

~ Amen

 

 

 

Other versions of A Sailor's Prayer

 

Please click a thumbnail to view the larger image.
Images will open in a new window.

A Sailor's Prayer

1920's

A Sailor's Prayer

1923

A Sailor's Prayer

1943

A Sailor's Prayer

1960's