When the Evening Star Went Down
(Henry Clay Work)

The morning was fearful at sea, the voyagers weary and pale;
Their steamer a wreck, from keel to deck, before an autumnal gale.
Old Neptune came forth in his power, he wore on his features a frown;
And many a guest he took to rest, When the Evening Star went down.

cho: They sleep in a fathomless grave, the guest and the mariner brave;
They pillow their heads on coral beds, beneath the blue ocean waves;
Be neath the blue ocean wave.

Sail'd ever a ship from her quay, so heavily laden as she
With folly and fame, with hope and shame, with vanity mirth and glee?
But in the dark moment that came, how useless were rank and renown!
And honors of earth, what were they worth when the Evening Star went down.

The treacherous ocean is calm, no longer in storm billows toss'd
Yet darkness and cloud will long enshroud the hearts that were link'd with
the lost.
In how many, how many homes, far distant, in country or town,
A light was put out, in dread, in doubt, When the Evening Star went down.

note: Relating (to quote the sheet music) to the loss of the Ocean Steamer
Evening Star on the morning of October 3rd, 1866. RG
From Songs of Henry Clay Work
RG
apr96