Maybe Someday

By Jake Murel

​Winslow Homer, Gloucester Sunset

Once I was a pirate king
Who sailed the ocean round
Without a home or place to be;
I lived my life unbound.

I cowed the swells on seven seas
With crews of brawny men;
I learned no mate who friends the wind
Will yearn for port again.

We drank our rum to Davy Jones
And opened out the mast,
Then charged a storm or raided ships
For wealth and bonny lass.

At night we roared a chorus out
Around the cross and bones
And sang our yarns to fish and stars.
For once, we weren't alone.

Remember when our ship was wrecked
On shores of golden sand,
The peace of watching silver waves,
Our work with rope and hands.

These days I'm distant from the wind;
We haven't talked in years.
My days are filled with stock reports
And suits I've stained with tears.

I often watch where sky and sea
Collide and think of then.
I vow someday I'll leave this desk
And ride the blue again.

Jake Murel is a private individual and so generally shies from bios. Jake has published scholarship on early modern poetry, as well…