Twice in one day, unusual...

The bark bounced like a tennis ball between waves,
She creaked and groaned from every imaginable space,
The only thing holding her down in the water was sea water leaked into the bilge,
The first night out was rough, bedding soaked, portholes open to the sea,
But she travelled the oceans for fifty years now & free…

She was a 3 masted barque, with a crew of six,
She was running the Horn in the worst of seasons,
Her Capitan had his orders and his own reasons,
He, like his crew wanted to go home, of the sea they’d grown sick…

No cargo did they haul this long trip,
Only passengers heading home themselves,
This bark the last way for them to travel,
Inexpensive with a hint of the pirate in it,
Nary a though had they about how they’re trip did start to unravel…

Around the Horn was not a trip to be taken lightly,
Constant storms & waves fighting each other,
The world’s two greatest oceans coming together as one,
A trip under sail that would be tried by only the strongest some…

Her Capitan, a man of advancing years himself,
The crew as well getting gray & losing hair,
But that was because of the sea; on land they’d have been bitter,
Home to their families they did look forward to,
Some had children, mostly grown,
Some still had little ones; they are the ones that did groan,
Wanting to be home in time for Christmas, gifts they did bring…

They were not a scurvy bunch,
They knew they’re job and did it well,
Their smiles and happiness at going home,
They did take with themselves to their watery grave,
For the bark they sailed upon was but a ghost ship,
She still rode the waves but on another plain,
They were all wanderers through life, but never did they complain…
© -me- 9/29/15