I wrote this allegorical poem with a blend of styles including old maritime lore, nursery rhymes, and contemporary prose.

On the surface, this is a poem about the sea. Going deeper, however, it's a tale of pride and how it affects us as we navigate our ships through the stormy waters of life.

The poem takes place in the Florida Keys, but it could apply to any island, or any person.

 

 

 

 

 

The Ship Has Sailed

by Sean Bloomfield (founder of OceanLife) 

 

There lived a proud captain

Who sailed the seas.

After too long in port

He grew weary of trees.

 

 “I’ve had drink aplenty

In the bars of the Keys

But my thirst for saltwater

Must now be appeased.”

 

His pride made him brave

But deaf to decrees

Which warned of a storm

Raging in from the east.

 

At the end of Duval

Trees danced in a breeze

Which gave the proud captain

a sense of unease.

 

But a voice said “Look here!”

'Twas the voice of the sea.

“There’s nothing to fear

When you’re dancing with me.”

 

“Dance on my waves.

Be wild and free.

Are you a seafarer

Or a yellow-belly?”

 

The captain, with pride,

Said “I do as I please.

I have nothing to fear

With my keen expertise.”

 

Then he ran to the port

And jumped like a flea

To the deck of his ketch

The Princess Marie.

  

Her timbers, they shivered,

Like mosquito disease

And her mainsail unfurled

In a watery sneeze.

 

The captain, he smiled,

And kissed sweet Marie

The love of his life,

his land remedy.

 

She got underway

With exceptional ease

And the captain made haste

Past the edge of the reef.

 

He puffed out his chest

And gritted his teeth;

Yes he was a captain

Who did as he pleased.

 

He steadied his course:

One-Eighty degrees

And nightfall revealed

The bright Pleiades.

 

The captain, he smiled.

"Farewell to the Keys.

I've no use for land

And my Princess agrees.”

 

But then came a wind

Strong as he’d seen

In his great many days

Of sailing the seas.

 

“To switch course or not?

They're both tragedies.

A choice I must make,

But my heart disagrees."

 

Marie plowed the waves

Like a knife slicing cheese

And her master stayed course

So as not to displease.

 

"Cutting and running

Gives no guarantees

That my trusty old vessel

Can tack winds like these."

 

Out on the horizon

He could still see the trees

Which looked so inviting

Compared to the seas.

 

“I must decide now

Or that option will cease.

What will I choose?

This hell or that peace?”

 

The captain, he winced,

And fell to his knees.

"I’m no good at making

hard choices like these.”

 

Then a gust ripped the sail

Which let out a wheeze

And the waves became taller,

as tall as tall trees.

 

“No turning back now,

As my ship would be seized

By these towering waves

As tall as tall trees.”

 

Rain pelted his face

Like the stinging of bees.

Yes, this was a storm

That did as it pleased.

   

“If only I’d known

How bad it would be,

I’d be on dry land

Admiring the trees.”

 

The captain stopped thinking;

His mind seemed to freeze.

But deep in his heart

Pride said words like these:

 

“You will dance on the waves.

You will die on the seas.

You’re too far along

To admire the trees.”

 

Lured out in a storm

To dance on the seas—

So go the proud captains

Who do as they please.

 

The tragic thing here

Is they fail to see

That waves are fine dancers

But so are the trees.