The Lost Ships of Yesteryear

Long past are the days,
When tall ships did sail,
Through tempests and rains,
Cyclones and gales.

When captains did brave,
Many sea dangers,
No wind was a new thing,
No wave was a stranger.

When the masts would there stand,
Proud, strong and tall,
When adventure from lands,
From far away would them call.

When gulls would be heard,
And alight on the mast,
While halyards and ratlines,
Were tied and made fast.

If pirates attacked,
Canons would fire,
And good, honest seamen,
Would from work never tire.

The bows and the stern,
Were made with such care,
So they would withstand,
That fresh ocean air.

The air that blew,
Gave seamen their breath,
The air without which,
The sea was as death.

The sea was to sailors,
As gold is to others,
Precious and special,
Making men brothers.

The ships would sail,
From England, from Spain,
Carrying spices,
 Carrying grain.
Their sails would be,
Their jewel and their pride,
Those that on,
The winds would ride.

Oh for those days,
When sails would fly,
When men for their countries,
Would willingly die.

When men were sailors,
And sailed the globe,
Their strength was the sea,
The ocean their robe.

The men they were mighty,
Braving all for their land,
Those men and their ships,
Lived hand in hand.

Those ships were of years,
Years long gone by,
But of their stories,
Not one will die.