—Original Poem— "Twilight of the Seamen"

Steady rock and calm sway—
rhythm of the vessel,
As the pats of the wave
do caress so the boat,
It is thus, in this way
that for centuries seamen,
mothered by salt and by water
have traversed the world.

The great winds of adventure
of discoveries yet to be known,
thus moved them through sea and through ocean
eager new lands to them show,
It was so
that as long as man has known water
he has yearned to see the magnificent glow
of the sun at the edge of the earth,
To find the limit of man
and the bounds of all life,
Man has yearned to uncover it all.

And so man once did
find the edge of the earth,
In his eternal bid
to uncover it all.
Seafarers’ white sails
reached one end then more
the edges they met
though edges no more.

Steady rock and calm sway—
rhythm of the vessel
though present in travel
all lost their allure,
For men on a ship
discovery has ended
as ended the edges of earth
we beheld once in awe.