a crow’s command
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I be a common salty once
no captain's bars, did bear
yet blessed was I to venture
where few a skipper dared
from crow's nest high aloft I saw
those bright coast beacons wink
thru biting spray's December gale
what shoals and reefs would sink
for countless days I rocked atop
that oaken spar’s good length
as wake and skies conveyed my eyes
Lord Neptune's sullen strength
busy dogs, the mates and jacks
bent hard while tasked below
as toward the sky, a glass to eye
my post waved to-and-fro
first was I to e'er spot land
my voice, the first to yell
first to sight the skull and bone
and raise loud warning bell
"thar she blows!" was oft' my cry
if spied foamed breach, had I
and "friend or foe?!?" the question barked
when strange sails split the sky
but moments to becalm my soul
as swells tick-tocked the time
were star-filled nights, a bullion moon
and the phosphorescent brine
the darkest times were battlements
when the ship groaned in its might
but never dark, those eventides -
sea and vault - awash with light!
quite rare it was to find this tar
midst the deck or down below
and rarer still would I abdicate
my realm there, high the crow
well, I'm adrift on shore now
with old brittle bones and gray
yet in my lubber's mind I still
climb masts to watch and sway
I bounce wee kin on knobby knees
and spin those swabbie tales -
of Elmo's Fire and scorching skies
wild battles, storms, and whales
and when the angels task me
to one new and heav'nly crow
I'll bend gaze to a looking glass
and give a hearty "tally-ho!"
Copyright © 2018 Gregory Richard Barden
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden | Year Posted 2024
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