Eleanor, 04-June 22 Still On The Berengaria

June 22

STILL ON BOARD THE BERENGARIA

I had a game of shuffle board
That made my shoulder ache.
The British serve delicious meat
But simple putrid cake.

June 23

The record for Tuesday is easily kept
I slept and I slept and I slept and I slept!

June 24

I am thinking of a mariner who sailed away to sea
When every rock and shoal, he thought, was filled with demons dire
When propitiation must be made to all the gods that be
I am thinking of a sailor boy who sailed away from Tyre.

And I think that polar trips and trans-Atlantic solo flights,
Though the courage they demand is high, the perseverance grand,
Cannot compare with wondering days and never-ending nights,
Of the first Phoenician sailor who went out of sight of land.
And when fog closed down on every side as fog has come today
Shutting out the very sight, the very breath of sea and sky,
I can understand that sailor gazing out on endless gray-
For one moment that intrepid sailor boy was I.

June 25

I thought the Atlantic
Would be quite terrific
But it's not as frantic
As the Pacific.

To the young and romantic
This time's beatific
But I, poor pedantic,
In verse am prolific.

June 26

ARRIVAL IN EUROPE

The sun set smiles
On the rocky Scilly isles
On the shaft of white
That supports the Bishop light
On the gull's wheel and dip
Around the ship.
On the fishing craft
Seen from fore and aft
We hear on every hand
"It's land,land,land."