The Last Farewell

This was Tuesday's daily puzzle. It may be the reason I could not get Roger Whittaker's song "The Last Farewell" out of my mind that day. You know the one. It begins "There's a ship lies rigged and ready in the harbor" and it was a number one hit in 1975. (The puzzle photo is titled "Old Town of Gdansk, Poland".)

According to Wikipedia, folk singer Whittaker hosted a radio program in Great Britain in 1971. He invited listeners to send in their poems or lyrics and he would make a song out of them. The Last Farewell was a poem sent in by Ron A. Webster, a silversmith from Birmingham, England.

The Last Farewell is on my list of all time favorite songs. I no longer have my vinyl collection, but to the best of my memory, this album, released in 1977, was the one I had - or one of the ones I had.

These are the lyrics:

There's a ship lies rigged and ready in the harbor
Tomorrow for old England she sails
Far away from your land of endless sunshine
To my land full of rainy skies and gales
And I shall be aboard that ship tomorrow
Though my heart is full of tears at this farewell

For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell

I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing
And the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising
Their guns on fire as we sail into hell
I have no fear of death, it brings no sorrow
But how bitter will be this last farewell

For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell

Though death and darkness gather all about me
My ship be torn apart upon the seas
I shall smell again the fragrance of these islands
And the heaving waves that brought me once to thee
And should I return home safe again to England
I shall watch the English mist roll through the dale

For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell

I don't have any specific memories of this song - not a special evening, a romantic picnic nor someone saying he always thought of me when he heard the song. It is just one I've always liked. And Roger Whittaker's voice was perfect for these words and the music.

I hoped to find out more about the time period about which the poem was written - was it WWII? Earlier? Later? I guess that doesn't matter as the words and sentiment could apply at any period in history. And, sadly, there have been thousands of couples for which The Last Farewell applied.

I work at least one jigsaw puzzle a day to help with my aging mental capacities. Putting the puzzle pieces together does help, I believe. The added benefit is when the picture entices my curiosity and I explore the locale pictured or the painter or like Tuesday, a remembered song.