Goodbye To Shackleton Poem by jim hogg

And so you set off travelling
in search of unknown things
You took your gun and bible
and the luck that courage brings
You dived into the river
and went swimming in the night
And when the moon rose over you,
you swallowed up its light

You traced the trail of Shackleton,
and sailed the clipper way
You smiled the smile of sunlight,
even when your hair turned grey
You posed for shots in Vegas,
and went shaking hands with fame
You drunk the poison of reward,
a victim of your name

And so you climbed down from the plane,
in search of all you'd sold
You sheltered in the moonlight,
where the nights grew long and cold
And trekking through your inner world
awaiting sorrow's ease
You heard the tempting trigger call
and with a smile you squeezed

You said goodbye to the river deep
You said goodbye to the fountain sweet
You said goodbye to life and love
To raving winds around Cape Horn
To the silence and the albatross
To all that your adventure was
And you said goodbye to Shackleton

And so I set off travelling
in search of all you'd known
I took your bow and arrows
and of course my mobile phone
I walked across the river bridge
and sheltered from the night
And when the moon came wooing me,
I stayed well out of sight

I traced the trail of Shackleton
in words you'd left behind
The clipper way shone brightly from
those photos left unsigned
I posed for shots with anyone
as keen as me on fame
I craved the poison of reward
but no-one knows my name

And so I climbed down from my chair
and wondered what you'd been
I smiled the smile of sunlight
at the thought of all you'd seen
I dived into your diary
where I read that I'd been wrong
And one eye on the moonlight
pulled the trigger on this song

You said goodbye to the river deep
You said goodbye to the mountain steep
You said goodbye to life and love
To raving winds around Cape Horn
To the silence and the albatross
To all that your adventure was
And you said goodbye to Shackleton

07 05 09