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Tag: shanty

Indra’s Neti-Neti: chantey (shanty)

We sail the sea that has no shore,
with just a raft beneath us;
we float until we can no more
and our resources fail us.
We find the wind and let it blow
whichever way it takes us,
without a chart or star above
we journey ’til it breaks us.
We make no claim to know the way,
nor where this life will lead us.
We work our sinews to the bone;
the sea air thins and bleeds us.
We are a wild and wooly crew,
no nation claims or wants us;
we know no home or fatherland –
no distant hamlet haunts us.
We sail because for all we know
the ocean lives inside us.
We keep a steady, weather eye
on where the fog may hide us.
We stand together on the deck
where time and tide defy us,
and with each turn and rolling wave,
we let ourselves be righted.

29 APR 2025

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Contraband: a chantey (shanty)

We never see the sight of land
except to bury treasure;
the nights we roll upon the sea
are numbered beyond measure.

Our toil and strife is never done,
our sleep is but an hour;
we cross the mighty waterways
by wind and muscle power.

Through rain and wind we travel on
in search of gold and riches;
and learn to keep our balance when
the deck savagely pitches.

The goal: to rule the seven seas,
and take what spoils we wishes;
to see our enemies impaled
or sleeping with the fishes.

Some swabs may call it contraband;
it’s swag, or spoils or booty.
To claim the biggest prize of all
is not our right, but duty.

26 APR 2011

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