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