/// The boy at the stern has been weeping,
but the passengers just go on sleeping.
On the Dutch canal barge
they apply a surcharge
for a seat where the deck isn’t seeping.
/// The boy’s tears increase now, dramatically,
as the rudder is steered automatically.
It’s been “given its head,”
so the boy cries in dread
while the tillerman smiles enigmatically.
/// The boy at the stern has been weeping,
but the passengers just go on sleeping.
On the Dutch canal barge
they apply a surcharge
for a seat where the deck isn’t seeping.
/// The boy’s tears increase now, dramatically,
as the rudder is steered automatically.
It’s been “given its head,”
so the boy cries in dread
while the tillerman smiles enigmatically.