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Poetry: A seaman's tale

by Marlin Pine

Created on: December 12, 2007   Last Updated: December 13, 2007

Gather round ye seaman bold
Belay your task and hear me
Let the masthead sale alone
A sea tale will I tell thee

It happened ore a year ago
Aboard the frigate SEA KING
Out ten days from Dover's coast
Becalmed we were and drifting

Not a breeze lay to the main
The seas hove flat and still
A shrouded mist rose from the sea
Swirling round it danced a Quadrille

Then port side through the mist it came


Bow cleaving through the sea
Full canvas out and filled with wind
It's course was straight on to me

Standing port side watch was I
I saw her clear as day
She sailed full mast without a wind
Her course on me she lay

The smell of brimstone filled the air
A banshee wail heard I
Her bow struck squarely on my chest
God help was my cry

She passed me through from bow to stern
Then sailed into the fog
I turned and saw her name in red
She was the ghost ship SEA DOG

Aye shipmates ti's the truth I tell
Or king Neptune strike me dead
Gather round m'lads for proof have I
But first my blouse to shed

That devil ship has left her mark
Forever on my chest
Step up lads and take a look
Then lay your doubts to rest

The likeness of her stern you see
Burned deep upon my chest
With her name emblazed in red
The SEA DOG Marks my breast

And if that isn't proof enough
Come look upon my back
For there you See the SEA DOGS bow
Plain to each and every man jack

And there are times when fog rolls by
I hear that banshee wail within
And the smell of brimstone drifts to me
And that devil ship Burne's through my skin

The SEA DOG sails forever on
Beware ye seaman bold
For she can cleave you for and aft
Now my story has been told

Learn more about this author, Marlin Pine.
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