FAREWELL
Embarkation of the Saints at Liverpool in 1851 by Ken Baxter

Dark and dismal and foreboding was the dock that night,
Rain drenched folks waiting beneath the dim, forlorn light.
Each filled with apprehension, some with a sad aching heart,
Yet everyone knew that it was the right thing to depart.

The loading of the vessels as they groaned and creaked,
With their mighty masts swaying as dawn just peeked,
Would be completed before the turn of the heaving tide,
Then one by one those waiting would venture inside.

All their earthly treasures that they had managed to bring
Stacked away somewhere, then someone began to sing,
First one brave voice rejoicing, singing of God’s love,
Then others all joined in till the message was heard above.

Those were brave saints who set sail across the ocean wide,
Not knowing if they would make it to the other side,
Yet the Lord had called and they wanted to obey,
So with willing hearts they ventured on the treacherous way.

I wonder how many made it across the cruel, cold sea?
At least they died trying and would be then set free,
How many sick and did not really recover again?
Were children born, with lice and rats to add to pain?

Sailing ships look a pretty sight in paintings everywhere,
But to travel in cheap booths, with very little food or care,
To survive was a miracle, and your chances very slim.
When storms rage in fury across oceans deep and grim


Yet many saints made it to the promised land, to be free
To worship as God would have them do, that was not easy,
For Satan wanted to stop the truth, and poisoned many a heart,
But the truth will go forward, ever onward, as we do our part.

M Ann Margetson © January 13, 2001
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