001 - Sea Stories Poem by George Hunter

I'm sitting here all alone tonight
Trying to think of something to write.
Possibly a fantasy, maybe the truth
Or maybe a story that's quite uncouth.
If I can't write, I'll just read instead,
It will be a while before I go to bed.

I'll read about seaman and their ports of call
And remember the tales by Nordoff and Hall.
Who wrote about hurricanes on distant isles
And Tahitian beauties working their wiles.

Also 'Munity on the Bounty', my oh my
With Fletcher Christian and Captain Bligh.
Set adrift and sentenced to die.
Castaways and outcasts because of their crime
Sailed to Pitcairn Island, exiled for all time.

I liked Dana's 'Two Years Before The Mast'
There was a story that was bound to last.
Herman Melville, tooth and nail
Hunting 'Moby Dick', the great white whale.

And Joseph Conrad gave me the shivers
With yarns of sailing up African rivers.
Into 'The Heart Of Darkness' all the way
Reading those stories sure made my day.

Jack London's sea tales sure passed the test
With 'The Sea Wolf' and Capt. Larsen,
One of the meanest and best.
And Stevenson's 'Treasure Island' and buried gold
With Long John Silver and his pirates bold.
That surely was one of the best,
Singing 'Drink and the Devil had done for the rest.'

All of these books I'm going to read again
From the days of wooden ships and iron men.