SAILOR'S PRAYER
(Rod MacDonald)

Though my sails be torn and ragged
And my mast be turned about,
Though the night wind chill me to my very soul,
Though the salt spray sting my eye
And the stars no sight provide,
Give me just enough morning light to hold.

CHORUS
I will not lie me down,
This rain a-raging,
I will not lie me down
In such a storm.
And if this night be unblessed,
I shall not take my rest
Until we reach another shore.

If the only water's salt
And I cannot quench my thirst,
I will drink the rain that falls so steady down.
If night's blindness be my gift,
If there be thieves upon my drift,
I will praise the dark that shelters me from them.

If my friends be drained and weary
And it seems their hopes are lost,
There's no need for their bones on this blackened bottom.
And if death wait just off the bow,
We need not answer to him now;
We'll stand on and face the morning light without him.


NOTES: It was a year or so ago that Gordon first heard this powerful song sung by Margaret MacArthur who had learned it from Jim Couza. The month was February, and Gordon, always on the lookout for comforting songs to help us (and himself) through the long New England winter, decided that this was a fine and fitting addition to his store of "February songs." (Caroline Paton)


Source: CD booklet from the album All Shall Be Well Again, by Gordon Bok, Ann Mayo Muir, and Ed Trickett.

Folk-Legacy Record #FSI-96, 1983

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raB_dK4NA8Y

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Oh, hey, this is exactly the same as the Digital Tradition. In general, it seems to be a far more satisfactory set of lyrics than what's in Sing Out!