Craig J. Hansen

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Lusitania

I’d been away 10 long years
From my family and my home
I decided to visit them
My folks were failing some

Booked passage on a steamship
For me and Annabelle
To cross the wide sea
We boarded hand in hand
So I could show her Ireland.

I am a shopkeeper by trade
My shop didn’t do that well
But that all changed, I did succeed
When I married Annabelle.

Booked us in a stateroom
The ship was just half full
But the war was going on
And ships were going down
But I wanted my family to meet Annabelle.

Annabelle, come stand by me
It’s the Headland of Kinsale
I can see ahead the Irish shore

The sun was bright and strong on that early day in May
The sea was calm
The sea was calm
What kind of man
Condemns 1000 souls to drown.

When she went down,
She went down fast
The bow,
It went down first

There were lifeboats for all
But the boats, they all seemed cursed
2000 were aboard
Less than a third survived
Back on the shore
For a month, maybe more
The dead washed in on the tide.

Annabelle, take my hand

I know we’ll need to swim
There’s no place left for us to go
I know the boats will come for us
So, just hang on
I know it’s cold
I know it’s cold.

I survived alone
For me, what a terrible cost
When the Lusitania
Was lost.

©2022 Craig J. Hansen