My Captain’s Words

by Lowell M. Durham, Jr.

Oh, how these lines burn

The rough, brined hemp through these hands

Draws and makes fast the ship.

Drawn tight, the fore-skysail stay

Cuts through brisk salt wind

And sings an adventure worth a song.

But comfort, these ropes draped and looped

’Bout the mizzen chains and fore,

Ready, like my Captain’s words,

To hold me fast to the post.

And when the devil’s winds

Want me free,

I’ll be tied fast to thee.