Poetry

Sea Shanty

Philippa Martyr

 

(for Captain Les)

 

That little house is the madman’s house

With an anchor in the garden,

And the madman’s flag flaps about like a rag

Richly sewn with a song of pardon.

All aboard the jaunty Narrenschiff

With its crew of startling tenants:

There the madman bleeds and then tells his beads

To the old pirates of penance.

What can you do with a drunken sailor?

Some doors won’t open again.

So he sleeps on the grass with an empty glass,

And the water tank dreams of the rain.