Grey Sailor:

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Grey Sailor:

‘Speak to me grey sailor, let me hear your tale.
Tell of lands those steely eyes have seen.
Speak to me with wisdom of tide, and wind, and whale,
Of hurricanes and islands on the beam.
Let me hear a sailor’s yarn of beating ‘round the Horn
Without a guiding star to lead you home
Let me hear of rivers wide, of calm and raging storm,
Tell me of the oceans that you roam.’

I’ll tell you’, said the sailor, ‘but not of distant shores,
We’ll speak about remembered friends of mine.
Those British Merchant Seamen who bravely went to war
When freedom was in peril for mankind.
They wore no splendid uniform, adorned with badge of gold,
No sword nor pistol sat upon their hip.
No piper played a last farewell on mornings dark and cold
As they sailed away on torn and buckled ships.

Two thousand days, two thousand ships and thirty thousand lost,
Our shipmates rest upon the ocean floor.
Widows’ weeds and orphans’ tears were counted in the cost
Of keeping terror from our island’s shore.
No ocean was too wide for them to feed our hungry land,
No storm nor tempest held them from their deed.
No words can speak the tribute we owe this noble band,
No song of praise can sing the words we need.

There are many still among us who walk a sailor’s stride,
Who felt once more a family’s embrace.
Their heads are full of memories, their hearts are filled with pride
As they remember every friend, each name, and face.
A candle on the altar was all that marked their end,
No headstone where a family might pray.
A fading final photograph and a letter to a friend,
No last goodbye, heard ‘til our final day.

Some were ancient mariners and some were only boys,
Standing on the threshold of their youth.
They’d never know the comfort, they’d never know the joy
Of being part of love, and hope, and truth.
They never saw the dawning that kept our nation free,
Their sacrifice is written up on high.
For their spirit lives forever, at the masthead, when you see
That proud Red Duster grace the morning sky.

David Partridge. April 2008.