"Sailor Man"

 

Originally published in the Eugene, Oregon Morning Register, February 2, 1929, author unknown, but I feel reflected in these words.

Sailor Man
--Unknown

He was one who followed
Dreams and stars and ships;
They say the wind has fastened
Strange words upon his lips.

There was something secret
In the way that he would smile,
As if he could remember
The laughter of a child.

Wayward as a seagull
Lonely as a hawk;
Yet he believed in angels
And heard the dolphins talk.

They speak of him as careless
A whimsical salty stray;
Nothing ever held him
Longer than a day.

I truly think he swaggered
Playing the sailor’s part;
But the rock of his exterior
Hid a gentle heart.

He spent his life a-roaming
With this hope he did contend
That the other side of nowhere
Led him somewhere in the end.