Only A Sailor Is Free Poem by Tom Courtney

The brave Skipper Nelson would sail up
to the dock in his leaky old boat
and step off into the twilight
in his thick fisherman’s sweater and coat

He called Nancy his belle his sweetheart
She would greet him and see what he caught
and she was so young and so pretty
that her honor could never be bought!

Oh sail away, won’t you sail away?
It’s a sailor’s life for me
The ocean is rolling with beckon and call
and only a sailor is free, is free
Only a sailor is free

The Skipper held a dream down deep in his heart
and behind his scraggly white fisherman’s beard
and under a kindly manner, his mind was set
to go after and conquer the fish that he feared

So one night the Skipper came not to the shore
nor did the light find his boat in the mooring
But the high walls of water and the bright sea sun
held the secret of the Skipper’s sail and oar

The Skipper drove straight for the open seas
with tiller clasped in a firm skipper’s stand
Every article of his ship ware had yielded
once at least to his time-toughened hand.

And he knew his boat well, or ne’er would he sail
more an extension of his will than his hand
He merged, becoming one with the motion and mist
and passed far beyond the sight of the land.

And blackness of night on the sea was intense
In clearings of weather, he found bearings above
The shining stars formed his beacons of passage
and he read them as one puts a hand in a glove.

On that dread day, daybreak came red and clear
In the stillness, the chilled boatman wiped his brow
The silence above and beyond earth and sky
bode ill of a force lurking deep ‘neath the prow.

Hours passed, the heat rose, the time dwindled on
The Skipper shielded his eyes and yielded a yawn
Sleep came upon him, as the day trickled by
and the visitor came between darkness and dawn

Feeling it, he jumped, the boat seized to the side
Both oars rose from the water to fly
A gale tore the mainsail and toppled the pole
The poor man knew not if he’d live or he’d die

In midday, the sky became darkness again
A spiral fountain swirled up and took him inside
The fish in the water rose high up above him
and the curtain of heaven fell down to the land

Brave Skipper, sure! He’d faced nature before
He had strength in his forearms and steel in his oar
He feared not commotion, the wholesale uproar
He took the fierce lashing and came back for more

Yet this day stung him down deep in his heart
His long journey had somehow taken him here
He had driven his life for this one awful moment
and now he would know the extent of his fear

A necklace of emeralds, the islands lie scattered
Where children crack coconuts burnt brown by the sun
Play water games and collect fishes’ teeth for trinkets
Their land is for play, and the sea is their fun

Oh sail away, won’t you sail away?
It’s a sailor’s life for me
The ocean is rolling with beckon and call
and only a sailor is free, is free
Only a sailor is free