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 William Carman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-ships-of-yule-2/
