There once was a young man
lost at sea.

For days his mother wept.
An old man came.

Solemn she begged,
"Bring him back."

"A life for a life,
that is the law."

"My years are at an end,
his has just begun."

That night she bled
until daybreak.

The men appeared, fished
her son on their vessel.

She smiled with no fare-wells,
and left.

Her son held no funeral,
made no tears,

became a drunkard
and died just the same.