G'day Wolfgang,

The words you quote are an Australian poem, 'The Sailor Home from the Sea, by (????? - ARGHH ... MENTAL BLOCK ... I'll check and give you the right name), a poet and author who now lives in Perth, West Australia. It was written at the time that she was married to Merv Lilley - a sailor working on coastal shipping and fishing boats. I have always taken it that the expression 'Cock of the morning' is metaphorical for the way his arrival back home has rewoken her life, as the cock crow heralds the day.

The towns mentioned are on the west and north of Australia and the final stanza suggests that the sailor/lover has come home for the winter season.

There are about 4 different tunes to this one - I normally sing the tune by Chris Kempster but I think the best known overseas was a different tune. The song was made popular by Martyn Wyndham-Read in the 1970s.

THE SAILOR HOME FROM THE SEA

1. Oh cock of the north with a dream in your hand,
My love has come home to this beautiful land
As he walks through the door with his eyes like the sun
And his kit bags crammed full of the treasures he's won.

2. There's a pearl shell from Broome and a tall Darwin tale,
Coral and clams and the jaws of a whale,
And our kitchen is full of the smell of the sea
And the leaping green fishes my love brings to me.

3. Oh tumble your treasures from Darwin and Broome,
And fill with your glory my strait little room
With the sun in the morning ablaze on your chest,
My love has come home from the north of northwest.

4. And deep in these beds we will love and we'll lie,
We'll kiss and we'll listen to the rain in the sky,
Warm as the summer, we'll hive winter long,
Oh my love has come home like King Solomon's song.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 26-Jun-02.