Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922.
The North Sea Patrol
W
And the balmy night-breezes blow straight from the Pole,
I heard a Destroyer sing: “What an enjoyable life does one lead on the North Sea Patrol!
Which means there are mine-fields wherever you stroll.
Unless you’ve particular wish to die quick, you’ll a-
void steering close to the North Sea Patrol.
Who takes in high Dudgeon our life-saving rôle,
For every one’s grousing at Docking and Dowsing
The marks and the lights on the North Sea Patrol.”
So swept but surviving, half drowned but still driving,
I watched her head out through the swell off the shoal,
And I heard her propellers roar: “Write to poor fellers
Who run such a Hell as the North Sea Patrol!”