Looks like I've been neglecting this thread. Here's another nostalgic nautical poem by Bill Adams:

From WIND IN THE TOPSAILS, edited by Bill Adams,
Published by George G. Harrap & Co., London, UK, © 1931, p. 53.

The old sailor ashore hearing the haunting shanty chorus as a tall-ship departs from the dock pool out the lock.

Ai-Lee-Oh

I see a ship glide through a dock
With lovely white wings,
And women watch her from the lock,
A sailor, laughing, sings,
Ai-lee-yoh,
Haul-away, yoh!

I see the houses slipping by,
Women's wet faces;
I hear a night wind piping high,
Sailors at the braces —
Hi-lee-yoh,
Haul-away, yoh!

I see the tug-boat's bobbing stern,
Ship's lights green and red,
And many lamps new lighted burn
Ashore. The sea's ahead —
Oh-yo-hoh,
Haul-away, yoh!

I see the roadways of the sea,
The stars, the sun, the moon;
From every sea drifts back to me
The faintly echoed tune —
Oh-hi-yoh,
Haul-away, yoh!

I see the ice upon the shrouds,
Eyes of men in pain;
The mastheads scrap the very clouds;
Would we were home again!
Ai-lee-yoh,
Haul-away, yoh!

I would probably standardize the chorus if I were singing this one.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble