Old Salts and Sovereign Flags

By: Felix L. Perry

I have walked shores all new

Where Franklin’s crew

Buried the last of their frozen bones

Found square peg nailed

Lead tinned cans failed

Doors and timbers for headstones

I have followed their ghosts

These are not Arctic’s boasts

The Northwest Passage I did sail

Where are buried the dead

Of all those who led

And lived to tell the tale

I’ve seen burgie bits and growlers speak

Icebergs high as a mountain peak

even shared words with polar beers

I’ve seen the northern lights

Such wondrous sights

That would fill your eyes with tears

Joined the Arctic Circle club

Bathed in an ice cold tub

Toasting with my evening tot

As Canada’s flag raised

I so proudly gazed

Something I’ve not forgot

I’ve sailed along Greenland’s shore

Longed for home some more

Seen seals frolic on Labrador days

I strolled in Cabot’s land

Now called Newfoundland

When my ship needed sheltered bays

Off the traitorous reefs of Sable Isle

I’ve anchored there sometimes a while

 SOS standby to see what we could do

Seen ships floundered in gales

Laughed at by whales

I tell ye it often made ye blue

I’ve sailed home once more

To Nova Scotia’s shore

Where the Citadel welcomes all

Where me family would wait

No matter how late

When they’d hear that fog horn bawl

Now my days of youth are past

Times change so fast

Still …those memories linger long

With the wind in the shrouds

Far from the smog and crowds

Sometimes I still hear the ocean’s song!