THE
SHIPS OF YULE
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WHEN
I was just a little boy,
Before I went to school,
I had a fleet of forty sail
I called the Ships of Yule;
Of every rig, from rakish brig
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And
gallant barkentine,
To little Fundy fishing boats
With gunwales painted green.
They used to go on trading trips
Around the world for me,
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For
though I had to stay on shore
My heart was on the sea.
They stopped at every port of call
From Babylon to Rome,
To load with all the lovely things
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| We never
had at home;
With elephants and ivory
Bought from the King of Tyre,
And shells and silk and sandal-wood
That sailor men admire;
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With figs and dates from Samarcand,
And squatty ginger-jars,
And scented silver amulets
From Indian bazaars;
With sugar-cane from Port of Spain,
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And
monkeys from Celylon,
And paper lanterns from Pekin
With painted dragons on;
With cocoanuts from Zanzibar,
And pines from Singapore;
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And
when they had unloaded these
They could go back for more.
And even after I was big
And had to go to school,
My mind was often far away
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| Aboard
the Ships of Yule. |
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