An Old Song Re-Sung

I saw a ship a-sailing, a-sailing, a-sailing,

With emeralds and rubies and sapphires in her hold;

And a bosun in a blue coat bawling at the railing,

Piping through a silver call that had a chain of gold;

The summer wind was failing and the tall ship rolled.

I saw a ship a-steering, a-steering, a-steering,

With roses in red thread worked up in her sails;

With sacks of purple amethysts, the spoils of buccaneering,

Skins and musky yellow, wine, and silks in bales,

Her merry men were cheering, hauling on the brails.

—John Masefield.