When the Wind is Strong and the Waves are High
Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 2:13 pm
When I was a child in the 60s, summer holidays were spent at Somers on Victoria's Westernport Bay. Somers was a sailing town, and the yacht club was the social centre. (That's me on the left.)
When the Wind is Strong and the Waves are High
When the wind is strong and the waves are high,
The sailors opt for staying dry.
They sit in the clubhouse cosily,
Sipping steaming mugs of tea
And chatting cheerily.
When the waves are steep and the wind blows hard,
The boats stay trailered in the yard.
The wind through the spars makes an awful shriek,
While the flapping shrouds make it hard to speak -
More luck, perhaps, next week.
When the wind is stiff and the waves are tall,
It’s hard to do very much at all,
For this whole town revolves round sail,
And when the weather gods offer a gale
All social systems fail.
But a time will come, the sailors know,
When the wind will drop to a moderate blow;
When the waves will flatten, both trough and crest,
And each will fasten their safety vest,
And vie to be the best.
© Stephen Whiteside 25.03.2018
When the Wind is Strong and the Waves are High
When the wind is strong and the waves are high,
The sailors opt for staying dry.
They sit in the clubhouse cosily,
Sipping steaming mugs of tea
And chatting cheerily.
When the waves are steep and the wind blows hard,
The boats stay trailered in the yard.
The wind through the spars makes an awful shriek,
While the flapping shrouds make it hard to speak -
More luck, perhaps, next week.
When the wind is stiff and the waves are tall,
It’s hard to do very much at all,
For this whole town revolves round sail,
And when the weather gods offer a gale
All social systems fail.
But a time will come, the sailors know,
When the wind will drop to a moderate blow;
When the waves will flatten, both trough and crest,
And each will fasten their safety vest,
And vie to be the best.
© Stephen Whiteside 25.03.2018