1940s, first published ca. 1972
Up and Down performed by Oliver Porteus
Away over yonder Sam sits in his box,
I in mine here thinking my thoughts;
Watching the ships passing on to the sea,
Nothing around but just Sam and me.
Watching the ships passing afar in the distance
Making their way on the Welland Canal;
Slowly they steam on with fog horns a-blaring,
From the high banks echoes their harsh mournful call.
Dropping from view down beneath the escarpment,
Where one will go down another pops up;
Blotting the sky with smoke from the funnels,
The world is at war and there’s no time to stop.
Here I sit watching the ships as they pass,
With their cargoes of death, riding out to the sea;
Counting their funnels and hearing their blasts —
Nothing around but just Sam and me.
Ships of the night like ghosts in their passing,
Weird is their tooting and mournful the sound;
Spectral the ships as through moonbeams their stealing,
Sam and me hearing them — going up and down!
Published in Spirit of the Big Ditch: The Story of the Welland Canals in Pictures, Poems and Songs. Compiled, edited and annotated by Robert Ratcliffe Taylor. St. Catharines: The Historical Society of St. Catharines, 2024
The Historical Society of St. Catharines 