The Men Who Sleep With Danger

The men who camp with

Are mostly quiet men:

And one may use a rifle,

And one may use a pen,

And one may strap a

In deserts to his bike;

But men who sleep with

Are pretty much alike.

To men in places

Or in the barren

There’s Danger ever present –A half unheeded guest.

But , thoughtful for the stranger,

The timid or the weak –The men who camp with

Keep watch but do not speak.

The men who go with

Are mostly

Upon the swooping fo’c’sle.

Or by the camp-fire side,

And when they sit in darkness,

To show us where they are:

The glowing of a

And often a

The men who camp with

Have quiet humour too,

And songs that you’ve forgotten,

And real good yarns for you.

There’s little you can tell

Of yourself or your

That men who’ve lived with

Have never felt or known.

The men who sleep with

Sleep soundly while they may,

But always wake at

Or just before the day.

A something in the

That shudders at the dawn –A side-mate softly wakened,

A rifle swiftly drawn.

The men who sail with

As actors are ideal:

They lightly laugh to fool

When Danger’s very real.

The men who sail with DangerA wondrous insight have:

They know if you are timid,

They know if you are brave.

The stewards set the

With careless, practised care,

And take accustomed

To sea-sick cabins there.

They knock at doors of

With broth and tea and toast,

While well they know, it’s touch and go,

And death sits on the coast.

The man who lives with

Has knowledge all his own;

The instinct of a woman,

Of men who fight alone.

He learns from peace and comfort,

He learns from care and strife;

Unwittingly from all

And from his native wife.

The men who live with

See sermons in a log;

They have the nerves of horses,

The instincts of a dog,

When illness comes to loved

They know where’er they roam –Have you seen, without for reason,

A farther start for home?

They know and feel our "warnings"As only Gipsies do;

They know the Norse Vardoger –They hear and see it, too.

They know when death has passed them,

And the death watch is at end.

They know when he is coming –The Unexpected Friend.

The men who live with Danger,

They take things as they go –In seeming unpreparedness,

To those who do not know.

They sleep when they have toiled and

And fought for someone’s sake;

But Danger whispers in their ear,

And they are wide awake !