Lay down the sails, raise the anchor,
on the journey we go. To where? To where
all the anxious sailors go. Off the harbor,
atop the waves, into the ocean we oar.
Where’s the heading, where do we go?
The moon in our sails, see it wax so;
we’ll point the sails to the stars we follow,
leave the ship in the currents’ tow.
To the end of the earth, the end of time,
we sail for dreams too high to climb.
In our dream of dreams, forgive our crimes
to our past selves and how we lost our prime.
We’ll sail and sail off the horizon
in regrets and hopes. Finding lost passion
where we lost hope, toward the sun
clueless to when and where we’ll find land.
So lay the sails, raise the anchor,
and on the journey we go. You now know where,
let your problems go. Off the harbor,
into the ocean, our hopes be our oar.
NaPoWriMo 2023. A sea shanty.
I challenge you to write a sea shanty (or shantey, or chanty, or chantey — there’s a good deal of disagreement regarding the spelling!) Anyway, these are poems in the forms of songs, strongly rhymed and rhythmic, that sailors might sing while hauling on ropes and performing other sea-going labors. Probably the two most famous sea shanties (at least before TikTok gave us The Wellerman) are What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor? and Blow the Man Down. And what should your poem be about? Well, I suppose it could be about anything, although some nautical phrases tossed into the chorus would be good for keeping the sea in your shanty. Haul away, boys, haul away!
NaPoWriMo Day Ten Prompt
Flipped Serendipity 