This page is just of bunch of fun stuff. Poems, quotes... some interesting, some whimsical, some funny. Enjoy!
"Sea-Fever"
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a
whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
By John Masefield (1878-1967).
(English Poet Laureate, 1930-1967.)
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a
whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
By John Masefield (1878-1967).
(English Poet Laureate, 1930-1967.)
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain "I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant". ... Mark Twain |
"Houses, are but badly built boats so firmly aground that you cannot think of moving them. They are definitely inferior things, belonging to the vegetable not the animal world, rooted and stationary, incapable of gay transition. I admit, doubtfully, as exceptions, snail-shells and caravans. The desire to build a house is the tired wish of a man content thenceforward with a single anchorage. The desire to build a boat is the desire of youth, unwilling yet to accept the idea of a final resting-place." -Arthur Ransome Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates. - Mark Twain – Life on the Mississippi |
Though I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. - David - Psalm 139: 9, 10
The Double Life How very simple life would be If only there were two of me A Restless Me to drift and roam A Quiet Me to stay at home. A Searching One to find his fill Of varied skies and newfound thrill While sane and homely things are done By the domestic Other One. And that's just where the trouble lies; There is a Restless Me that cries For chancy risks and changing scene, For arctic blue and tropic green, For deserts with their mystic spell, For lusty fun and raising Hell, But shackled to that Restless Me My Other Self rebelliously Resists the frantic urge to move. It seeks the old familiar groove That habits make. It finds content With hearth and home -- dear prisonment, With candlelight and well-loved books And treasured loot in dusty nooks, With puttering and garden things And dreaming while a cricket sings And all the while the Restless One Insists on more exciting fun, It wants to go with every tide, No matter where...just for the ride. Like yowling cats the two selves brawl Until I have no peace at all. One eye turns to the forward track, The other eye looks sadly back. I'm getting wall-eyed from the strain, (It's tough to have an idle brain) But One says "Stay" and One says "Go" And One says "Yes," and One says "No," And One Self wants a home and wife And One Self craves the drifter's life. The Restless Fellow always wins I wish my folks had made me twins. - Don Blanding, Hawaiian Poet Laureate |
FREE – Eugene O’Neill Weary am I of the tumult, sick of the staring crowd, Pining for wild sea places where the soul may think aloud. Fled is the glamour of cities, dead as the ghost of a dream, While I pine anew for the tint of blue on the breast of the old Gulf Stream. I have had my dance with Folly, nor do I shirk the blame; I have sipped the so-called Wine of Life and paid the price of shame; But I know that I shall find surcease, the rest my spirit craves, Where the rainbows play in the flying spray, ‘Mid the keen salt kiss of the waves. Then it’s ho! for the plunging deck of a bark, the hoarse song of the crew, With never a thought of those we left or what we are going to do; Nor heed the old ship’s burning, but break the shackles of care And at last be free, on the open sea, with the trade wind in our hair. The Pirate King
Oh, better far to live and die Under the brave black flag I fly, Than play a sanctimonious part, With a pirate head, and a pirate heart. Away to the cheating world go you, Where pirates all are well-to-do; But I’ll be true to the song I sing, And live and die a Pirate King. – Gilbert and Sullivan They spit, and smoke tobacco rank.,
And live incontinently, And though they look as if they drank The sea air fans them gently! The sun shines on, the breezes blow, When shops and counters free them The waves dance gaily to and fro, And seem quite glad to see them! Oh, sun and breeze and dancing trees, In one commingling blended, You are not difficult to please Not easily offended. |
They That Go Down To The Sea In Ships They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. - David - Psalms, 107:23-30, KJV |
"There is nothing- absolutely nothing-
half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." -Ratty - Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows. There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures. William Shakespeare "Them that dies'll be the lucky ones"
- Long John Silver in Treasure Island Everything I need to know about life, I learned from
Noah's Ark: One: Don't miss the boat. Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat. Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark. Four: Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. Five: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done. Six: Build your future on high ground. Seven: For safety's sake, travel in pairs. Eight: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs. Nine: When you're stressed, float a while. Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals. Jack Sparrow: "Wherever we want to go, we go. That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and sails; that's what a ship needs. Not what a ship is. What the Black Pearl really is, is freedom." Jack Sparrow: "Me I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly it's the honest ones you have to watch out for, you never can predict if they're going to do something incredibly stupid." |
Morality without religion is only a kind of dead reckoning - an endeavor to find our place on a cloudy sea by measuring the distance we have run, but without any observation of the heavenly bodies. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable. - Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD) "The man who would be fully employed should procure a ship or a woman, for no two things produce more trouble" - Plautus 254-184 B.C "Land was created to provide a place for boats to visit." -Brooks Atkinson A strong nor’-wester ’s blowing, Bill! Hark! don’t ye hear it roar now? Lord help ’em, how I pities them Unhappy folks on shore now! --The Sailor’s Consolation When I was a boy the Dead Sea was only sick. George Burns "The old moon laughed and sang a song As they rocked in the wooden shoe, And the wind that sped them all night long Ruffled the waves of dew. The little stars were the herring fish That lived in the beautiful sea .... '....Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed As if it could not be, And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed Of sailing that beautiful sea ~ But I shall name you the fishermen three: Wynken, Blynken, And Nod. " "It isn't that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better." -Sir Francis Drake The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net forever.’ - Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997) |
If If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream – and not make dreams your master, If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!” If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son! – Rudyard Kipling |
TACKLE THE THING Somebody said that it couldn’t be done, But he with a chuckle replied That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one Who wouldn’t say so till he tried. So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin On his face. If he worried he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done, and did it. Somebody scoffed: Oh, you’ll never do that; At least no one has ever done it”; But he took off his coat and he took off his hat, And the first thing we knew he’d begun it. With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin, Without any doubting or quid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done, and did it. There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done, There are thousands to prophesy failure; There are thousands to point out to you, one by one, The dangers that wait to assail you. But just buckle in with a bit of a grin, Just take off your coat and go to it; Just start to sing as you tackle the thing That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it. – Edgar A. Guest |
Take the time to enjoy this clip. It's a bit of fun and fantasy and anyone with half a soul can't help but feel good and have a bit of a spring in their step after watching it.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/TLvaszLmes4 (for those who may not know, once youtube comes up, if you click on the icon in the bottom right hand corner it will open to full screen)
We've been very tempted to choose La Vie Dasante (The Dancing Life) as our boat name.
Unfortunately any name you have to keep explaining isn't a good one.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/TLvaszLmes4 (for those who may not know, once youtube comes up, if you click on the icon in the bottom right hand corner it will open to full screen)
We've been very tempted to choose La Vie Dasante (The Dancing Life) as our boat name.
Unfortunately any name you have to keep explaining isn't a good one.
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
Maya Angelou
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
Maya Angelou
THE BOAT THAT NEVER SAILED
by Alban Wall
Down in the harbor of Broken Dreams
On the shores of Yesterday,
Her hull half-buried by sands of Time,
A schooner lies rotting away;
And her broken beams are the broken hopes
Of plans that have somehow failed -
And the tide drifts in and the tide drifts out
Past a boat that has never sailed.
Her timbers were made of the finest wood
From the forests of Caribee;
Her sails were like wings of the albatross
That glide o’er the southern sea;
And her decks how they echoed her builder’s song
As he fashioned her, plank and nail -
Now only the seagull’s lonesome cry
Haunts the boat that has never set sail.
She never answered the siren call
Of coaxing wind and tide;
She never breasted the Spanish Main
With the seas coming over her side;
And the pennant that hangs from her broken mast
Never shook in the lashing gale -
For the tides of Destiny waxed too full
And the schooner never set sail.
Somewhere there are men with snow-white hair
Who sit in life’s twilight years,
And often their thoughts drift wistfully back,
And often their eyes fill with tears
As they think of the dreams that have gone astray
And the plans that have somehow failed -
God, heal the hearts of the men who have built
The boats that have never sailed.