My Brother The Tankerman Poem by Randy McClave

My brother is a tankerman on a barge line
He works two to three weeks on, never does he whine,
He has been on the Mississippi and the Gulf Of Mexico
Wherever that he is needed, he is always prepared to go,
He sleeps for six hours, then the rest of the day he works
And while on the boat he labors, and also exercises as perks,
Before being a tankerman my brother was a deck-hand
We all must begin somewhere before reaching our promised land,
He works in the summertime and in the wintertime as well
He works in the sun, and also in the snow and the rain and hail,
Some people say that they couldn't work on the rivers or the sea
My brother tells them that he can and must, as he has bills and a family,
To work on the barges it takes a certain dynamic breed
Mother nature as a friend or foe, and only to God do you heed,
But, as the Bible says man must eat by the sweat of his brow
Even if he is on a boat, staring at heaven from its bow,
He transfers cargo to a refinery or a facility or to another barge
And sometimes he is its cook, or its janitor when he takes charge,
His responsibility it might differ while he is on the company clock
But, he is always ready and prepared on the water or on the dock,
Sometimes he is Jonah, after being swallowed by the giant fish
And too like Jonah, to be with his wife and family is his greatest wish,
While on the boat he works as hard as any crewman ever can
My brother works on the barges, and he is a tankerman.

Randy L. McClave