(Our poet's repeated reproof to those in authority)
When you cast off your warps for a voyage
you would never go out without charts,
For they’ll show you just where you are going
especially in far foreign parts.
A compass is also quite vital
and it tells you what course you are steering
If your helmsman is drunk, you’ll likely be sunk
when you ground on the rocks after veering.
In the cabin there’s other equipment,
important for skipper & crew,
A mobile phone & a corkscrew
plus some sick-bags stowed up in the loo.
But as I gaze over the harbour,
there’s one thing I often can’t see,
A Lifejacket worn by each person
and that seems rather foolish to me
The hoary old salts just pooh-pooh them,
say “they get in the way when on deck”,
But without one you’ll drown that much quicker
when your boat’s nothing more than a wreck.
The experts should set an example,
so that “Do as I do” is the boast
For “Do as I say” will not hold any sway
when you’re drowning ten miles off the coast.
