Maybe Someday
By Jake Murel
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 as original poems in The Lyric, Society for Classical Poets, The New Verse News, and other venues.
Is the poet a born sailor? May his wish come true then, may he leave desk, and slavery to business behind, for a life more suited to his nature and inclination. Maybe there's enough money to buy a boat? I wondered if the tears were connected with stock market losses.
My father loved sailing, I was more attracted to speedboats and cabin cruisers. Once though, at sea in one of the latter, a serious squall suddenly blew in, and I, age 12 at the time, was assigned to the steering wheel, with instructions to keep the boat headed straight into the huge waves--thump, thump, thump-- while the rest stayed busy bailing water. This may have been when I first realized the usefulness of a keel, which pits waterweight against windweight. Clearly I came thru it alive, but to be honest, still prefer cabin cruisers despite their relatively flat bottoms.
Beautiful. Thank you.