See her come bearing down, a tidy craft! <br />Gaily her topsails bulge, her sidelights burn! <br />There's jigging in her rigging fore and aft, <br />And beauty's self, not name, limned on her stern. <br /> <br />See at her head the Jolly Roger flutters! <br />"God, is she fully manned? If she's one short..." <br />Cadet, bargee, longshoreman, shellback mutters; <br />Drowned is reason that should me comfort. <br /> <br />But habit, like a cork, rides the dark flood, <br />And, like a cork, keeps her in walls of glass; <br />Faint legacies of brine tingle my blood, <br />The tide-wind's fading echoes, as I pass. <br /> <br />Now, jolly ship, sign on a jolly crew: <br />God bless you, dear, and all who sail in you. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Anonymous submission.<br /><br />Sir Kingsley Amis<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-note-on-wyatt/
