When Saben the Woodfitter came for the last time
west on the western ocean,
he came alone.
And he was an old man then,
and the boat was old.

And so for the last time the black boat ran,
swung to the westward night on day,
needing neither helm nor sail-trimming,
the wind behind her.

and then one day the old man looked,
and he saw the water coming onto her.
So then by the day he'd bail
and by the night he'd sleep with his hand on her keelson,
to see when the water came.