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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365690" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Close to the Edge</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">My father was a sailor<br>He was always off the shore, <br>And I’d watch his sailboat ‘Ransom’<br>As it gaff-rigged past our door, <br>And he told me – ‘When you’re old enough<br>I’ll show you where they dwell, <br>The mermaids, with their necklaces, <br>Made out of cockleshells! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then out on the verandah<br>He would stare straight out to sea, <br>Where the sun meets the horizon <br>Then he’d sit me on his knee, <br>And he’d tell me tales of Morgan, <br>Tales of Captain Kidd and Co., <br>When they roamed the Caribbean<br>In the days of long ago.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He would sail out in the summer, <br>He would sail out in the fall, <br>He would sail to the horizon <br>In the mist, and through a squall, <br>And he always took his bo’sun<br>‘Shifty’ Dick, who trimmed the sail, <br>Drank the ‘Ransom’ dry of whiskey, <br>Lashed his wrist, hard to the rail.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then one winter, storm capped waters<br>Beat unceasing on our shore, <br>And my mother lit the lantern<br>Kept a vigil by the door.<br>But the ‘Ransom’ kept its secrets<br>Never came to shore again, <br>And my father joined the history<br>Of all seafaring men! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">I grew and took my lessons<br>In a little trailer-sail, <br>When my mother wasn’t watching; <br>She would cry, and she would wail: <br>‘Don’t you ever let me catch you, <br>Staring, looking at the sea, <br>It’s enough I lost your father…’<br>‘Never fret! You won’t lose me! ’</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For years I watched them leaving, <br>All the magic sailing boats, <br>Some were worth a clear million, <br>While some could barely float! <br>I watched as they sailed out, and then<br>I watched on their return, <br>But some were lost forever, <br>Sunk – Exploded - Overturned! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">I bought a gaff-rigged schooner, <br>It had seen far better days, <br>But I patched it and I painted it, <br>I called it the ‘Sea Haze’; <br>I took it out with friends -<br>We didn’t venture out too far -<br>But learnt to jib, and trim the sail, <br>To run along the shore! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then finally I headed out<br>To where it all began, <br>Beyond the far horizon<br>Where the ‘Ransom’ cut and ran, <br>The clouds began to gather<br>And the shades began to steal, <br>The waves broke on the forward deck<br>And I clung to the wheel.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The storm clouds that had gathered<br>Opened up and thundered rain, <br>It beat upon the masthead, and it<br>Lashed the sagging main, <br>It soaked my tiny cabin and it<br>Churned the heaving sea, <br>The waves on the horizon<br>Lay in wait out there, for me! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">I sailed right through some warp of space<br>Or time, or so it seemed, <br>For then it was I caught a sight<br>Out there – a Quinquereme! <br>The rows of oars were stilled, I saw, <br>But some unholy moan, <br>Broke through the madness of the storm<br>And chilled me to the bone! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">And then I saw a Galleass, <br>And then I saw a tramp, <br>To port there was a Brigantine<br>To starboard there, a lamp! <br>A single lamp to light the way<br>I took my bearings then, <br>No sign of a horizon there, <br>I sailed toward the end! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">The sea, it fell away just there<br>And all I saw was space, <br>The ancients said the earth was flat, <br>My heart began to race.<br>A thousand ships lay still out there<br>A Cruiser, Barque, a Dredge! <br>They’d sailed in space there since the day<br>They sailed right off the edge! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">The ‘Sea Haze’ raced along a line<br>Just inches from dismay, <br>I turned the wheel to head back home, <br>To live another day, <br>And then I saw the ‘Ransom’ turning<br>Slowly in the sky, <br>While ‘Shifty’ Dick, still tethered, <br>Floated wide and still and dry! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">The ‘Sea Haze’ sits at anchor still<br>Just out from my back door, <br>She sank a dozen years ago, <br>Sat down, hard on the shore.<br>I never stare out at the sea, <br>The sea I thought I knew, <br>For who’d believe the earth was flat? <br>That’s right! – Not even you!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=David+Lewis+Paget">David Lewis Paget</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365690" data-title="Close to the Edge de David Lewis Paget" data-description="My father was a sailor
He was always off the shore, 
And I’d watch his sailboat ‘Ransom’
As it gaff-rigged past our door, 
And he told me – ‘When you’re old enough
I’ll show you where they dwell, 
The mermaids, with their necklaces, ..."></div>
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