Salty dogs stagger

Salty dogs stagger

Through unlit streets,

Heavily bowed

Chippendale legs

Dancing to a different tune

More suited to a heavy swell

Than a confrontation

With a Royal flush.

Mild and bitter

Arguments cobbled together

Over a game of cards

And a sing-song.

Dark moods barely turn

Sunny side up

After so many weeks

Afore the mast.

Sharing a bunk

Cramped and crotchety

Eager to be free,

Drinking for England

Until wet with sweat.

Slaked from an abundance

Of debauchery

And little sleep

They rise

With the high tide

In the morning,

Back to the sea

The town fleeced clean.

Women are left in limbo

Nursing broken dreams

And lost loves

Holding on to more than was bargained,

For less than a sovereign.

Jolly Jack’s and Matelots

Sail away

My hearties

Sail away

Distant lands and treasure troves

Await.

Promises hastily made

Break in waves

Hard men turn into the wind

To escape the doldrums

And pine in silence.

It’s what brings them back

To what was left behind.