34 - Flora and James

Come all you true lovers attend for a while
To a tale I am going to unfold:
Young James was a lad who was virtuous and kind
And Flora a sailor so bold.
“Adieu! Lovely James!” one morning said she
“We are called, I am forced for to go
Far from my native shore
When the loud cannons roar
Up aloft when the stormy winds blow”
Up aloft when the stormy winds blow
Far from my native shore
When the loud cannons roar
Up aloft when the stormy winds blow

Oh James how he wept, sad tears from his blue eyes
When young Flora said she must depart
She broke her ring in two, said “Here’s one half for you”
And the other she pressed to her heart.
James wept in despair, tore at his lovely hair
Saying “Flora, with you I must go”
Crying in accents soft
“I shall go up aloft
With my love, when the stormy winds blow.”
With my love, when the stormy winds blow
Crying in accents soft
“I shall go up aloft
With my love, when the stormy winds blow”

Said Flora, “Dear James, you surely can’t think
For to risk your sweet life on the deep?
And for to go aloft, when on your pillow soft
Contented at home you might sleep!”
He said “I’m not afraid, and none shall me persuade
As determined I am for to go
Unto some foreign shore
Where the loud cannons roar
To be with you when stormy winds blow.”
To be with you when stormy winds blow
Unto some foreign shore
Where the loud cannons roar
To be with you when stormy winds blow

Two sailors they shipped out, these lovers so true
(For indeed there’s no gender in war),
And though James was afraid, with his Flora he stayed
For true love, for their comrades, and more.
By day and by night these two lovers did fight
And with grit in to battle did go
Taking no joy in war
Many hardships they bore
Up aloft when the stormy winds blow
Up aloft when the stormy winds blow
Taking no joy in war
Many hardships they bore
Up aloft when the stormy winds blow

Five years on the ocean these two they did sail
Respected by all the ship’s crew
And not one did care how young James wore his hair;
They know men can be fine sailors too.
On the bow they did stand, side by side, hand in hand
Before once more aloft they did go
With no care for his life
James followed his wife
Up aloft when the stormy winds blow
Up aloft when the stormy winds blow
With no care for his life
James followed his wife
Up aloft when the stormy winds blow

Just a year more had past when young Flora - at last -
Had the Captaincy gifted with gold
At the front of the crowd stood young James, and so proud
Of his Flora he loved to behold.
So on went the sailors, the lovers, to sea
For when the fight stops, who can know?
But until the war’s o’er
There’s a young lovers bower
Up aloft when the stormy winds blow
Up aloft when the stormy winds blow
But until the war’s o’er
There’s a young lovers bower
Up aloft when the stormy winds blow.

non-male_writer
seafaring_women
feminist
romantic_love
ballad