Lord Frankly / Lady Franklin's Lament
(traditional)
While homeward bound, one night on the deep
Swingin’ in my hammock, I fell to sleep
I dreamed a dream, and I thought it true
Concerning Franklin, and his gallant crew.
With a hundred seamen, he sailed away
To the frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek a passage going ‘round the pole
Where we poor sailors sometimes do go.
Through cruel hardships they mainly strove
Their ship on mountains of ice were drove
Only the Eskimo in his skin canoe
Was the only one that ever came through.
In Baffin’s Bay where the whale fishes blow
The fate of Franklin no man may know
The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell
Oh Lord Franklin, alone with his sailors does dwell.
And now my story, it gives me pain
For my Lord Franklin I would swim the Main
Ten thousand pounds I would freely give
To say on earth that Lord Franklin might live.