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dgwe
New Member

since 2000-10-18

Posts 2

0 posted 2000-10-18 01:27 AM

I'm hoping someone can point in the right direction to find a poem that starts with "a capital ship for an ocean trip was a walloping widow blind." My Dad used to sing the poem to us as kids and I'd like to sing it to my 3 month-old son. Darned if I can remember the author or the name of the poem.

Thanks

David

P.S. I have searched the web using the line and searched all the poem sites, no joy to date.

Ron

Administrator

Member Rara Avis

since 1999-05-19

Posts 8669
Michigan, US

1 posted 2000-10-18 04:20 AM

A Nautical Ballad
by Charles Edward Carryl

A capital ship for an ocean trip
Was "The Walloping Window-blind;"
No gale that blew dismayed her crew
Or troubled the captain's mind.

The man at the wheel was taught to feel
Contempt for the wildest blow,
And it often appeared, when the weather had cleared,
That he'd been in his bunk below.

The boatswain's mate was very sedate,
Yet fond of amusement, too;
And he played hop-scotch with the starboard watch,
While the captain tickled the crew.

And the gunner we had was apparently mad,
For he sat on the after-rail,
And fired salutes with the captain's boots,
In the teeth of the booming gale.

The captain sat in a commodore's hat,
And dined, in a royal way,
On toasted pigs and pickles and figs
And gummery bread, each day.

But the cook was Dutch, and behaved as such;
For the food that he gave the crew
Was a number of tons of hot-cross buns,
Chopped up with sugar and glue.

And we all felt ill as mariners will,
On a diet that's cheap and rude;
And we shivered and shook as we dipped the cook
In a tub of his gluesome food.

Then nautical pride we laid aside,
And we cast the vessel ashore
On the Gulliby Isles, where the Poohpooh smiles,
And the Anagazanders roar.

Composed of sand was that favored land,
And trimmed with cinnamon straws;
And pink and blue was the pleasing hue
Of the Tickletoeteaser's claws.

And we sat on the edge of a sandy ledge
And shot at the whistling bee;
And the Binnacle-bats wore water-proof hats
As they danced in the sounding sea.

On rubagub bark, from dawn to dark,
We fed, till we all had grown
Uncommonly shrunk,-when a Chinese junk
Came by from the torriby zone.

She was stubby and square, but we didn't much care,
And we cheerily put to sea;
And we left the crew of the junk to chew
The bark of the rubagub tree.

Irish Rose
Member Patricius

since 2000-04-06

Posts 10263

2 posted 2000-10-19 05:52 AM

This was one of the most delightful poems I've ever come across, I love the rhyme scheme, it's rare, it's wonderful! My brother would love this, he was in the Navy, I'm going to give him a copy of it.

"When red-haired girls scamper like roses
over the rain-green grass,
and the sun drips honey.""
Laurie Lee

Kathleen

dgwe
New Member

since 2000-10-18

Posts 2

3 posted 2000-10-19 11:33 AM

After Ron's reply I went looking for information on the author. I was trying to find a chorus my Dad sings that goes something like this --

So blow ye winds hi ho
A roving I will go
I'll stay no more on England's shore
So let the usic play
I'm off on the morning train
Across the raging main
I'm off to my love with a boxing glove
Ten thousand miles away

I'll have to ask him where he picked the song/poem up. Maybe he got it from his Father or G-Father, all sailors.

Thanks for the feedback!

David

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