The Old Men of the Shells

As I roved out on a Shrovetide Eve

Among the bramble and the cloudberry

It's then I heard a melody

Blowing over the Northern Sea

The song of the old men of the shells

The old men of the shells, my boys

The old men of the shells

I left the ones who love me well

To find my home in the heathery dell

And follow the old men of the shells

I made my bed so shallow

Among the marigold and the marshmallow

It's then I heard the old men say

"Why deny the sea her prey?

Come lie with the old men of the shells"

So deeper, deeper I found my home

Among the samphire, among the foam

The curlew call my curfew bell

Brings me to my bed of pearl

To lie with the old men of the shells

And though the words they sang were few

They had the ring of something true

I listened long and began to sing

The way the unfledged bird takes the wing

I sang with the old men of the shells

I cast around to find my tune

Thinking to sing the song all alone

But wise words on a foolish tongue

Howsoever sweetly they be sung

They jangle like the brassy bells of hell

And they'll never please the old men of the shells

The old men of the shells, my boys

The old men of the shells

I left the ones who love me well

To find my home in the ocean swells

And lie with the old men of the shells