The Three Watchmen

By C.C. Gaylord

Wherever the shore is home to men
There stand the watchmen three:
The Lighthouse and the Foghorn
And the rocking Bell-buoy.

Still through the darkling hours
When the night is upon the deep
They keep their posts along the coasts--
These three which never sleep.

Where the rock-face rears its head
The sailors know in the night,
Without a star, just where they are
By the wink of the far-off light.

When the sea mist hangs like a curtain
And you see not the sea or the sky
The grey cliffs moan with the ship-horn's drone
And the Foghorn makes reply.


Over the low-hidden shoal
Where the wicked wave-caps fall
The great ships bide and turn aside
At the Bell-buoy's warning call.


Wherever the rocky coastline lies
Still stand the watchmen three;
Guarding the treacherous straits
Of their age-old enemy--
Watching the crest on the throbbing breast
Of the grey and restless Sea.