A Ship In a Bottle

A Ship In A Bottle My great Grand Father sailed to New Zealand on a ship called the Wild Deer in 1872. I have always loved ships in bottles, and one day decided I would drain a pretty bottle of its contents and put the inspiration back inside. It took three months to complete the project. It sits there on the sideboard Or on the mantle shelf, And after such a long time You don’t notice it yourself. But should you have a visitor Or younger child come by It will spark interest anew And gasps of “Me oh my!” It’s then the curious wonder How the ship was put inside, And where the opening’s concealed And was it hard to hide? And if you put it in there How many times you tried? And if it went in through the neck How could it be so wide? It’s then you tell the story Of going to the store To find a bottle of good clear glass With a shape worth planning for. Dimple Haig is famous, Carduh’s pretty fair, The first one is triangular, The other one is square. The bottle must be decanted, When empty cleaned and dried, And a careful measure taken Of the dimensions inside. It’s then you render drawings Of the ship you want to make, And plan out going backwards Every step you’ll have to take. First you carve the hull Of wood with grain that’s fine, Then step the masts with hinges So they fold down in a line. You add the sails and rigging, Check how they’ll erect When’s time to pull the halyards Through the bottle’s neck. It takes months to finish Doing a little every night, I had my children watching And remarking at the sight. They saw me put in plasticine To mold and shape the ocean And carve wave crests with a spoon To give the water motion. When at last the time is right And everything is ready You carefully set the ship upon The sea and hold it steady. Then pulling on each halyard The sails are slowly raised And those who watch the process Stand enchanted and amazed.