Verses 7 and 8 of Stevenson's fine poem are the ones that I would recommend dropping. In my opinion they are just too much Victorian dead weight and the poem is a long one. Of course, I wouldn't have focused on this poem at all if Tom Lewis hadn't revived it as a song. I love the desparate way that it starts out, and anyone who has read Patrick O'Brian knows "Th' impervious horrors of a leeward shore."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble