Ashley's Book Of Knots Poem by Roy Ballard

To hitch your waggon to a star,
to sling aloft a jug or jar,
to hoist a cow high as a kite,
cast nooses, throw knots-in-the-bight,
work sinnets, beckets and garottes
you look in Ashley's book of knots.

Want to make a four-leg lashing
which will never send you crashing?
Ashley's pages point the way.
So frap your turns, make fast, belay,
go marry up the ropes and cords
that butt your poles and scaffold boards.

Romancing might not be your lot
but here is your true lover's knot,
your cuckold's neck, your running clinch,
your lantern cords tied inch-by-inch.
Stoppers, lanyards, bends and hitchings,
seizings, toggles, splices, stitchings
all heads and frogs that God allots
you'll find in Ashley's book of knots.