A SAILOR'S PRAYER


Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
Grant no other sailor take
my shoes and socks before I wake.

Lord grant me in my slumber
and keep my hammock on its number,
May no clews or lashings break
and let me down before I wake.

Keep me safely in thy sight
and grant no fire drill tonight
and in the morning let me wake
breathing scents of sirloin steaks.

God protect me in my dreams
and make this better than it seems.
Grant that time may swiftly fly
when myself shall rest on high.

In a snowy feather bed
where I long to rest my head,
far away from all these scenes
and from the smell of halfdone beans.

Take me back into the land
where they don't scrub down with sand.
Where no demon typhoon blows
and where the women wash the clothes.

God thou knowest all my woes,
feed me in my dying throes.
Take me back, I promise then,
never to leave home again.
Homepage  /  Contents  / My Service History  Birth of a Battleship

Diary of Events for 1952  /  Diary of Events for 1953  / Death a Battleship

A Day on HMS Vanguard  /  Sectional Drawing  /  Photographs of HMS Drayd 

Photographs of Oslo 1952  /  Bluenose Certificate  /  Poem - My Vanguard 

The Flag Deck  /    HMS Vanguard Veterans' Association