Poem: It's Sweet to Die at Sea

It’s Sweet to Die at Sea

Today the Sun is gently kissing Sea.
A glint of light upon the vaunting swells,
A fish half-glimpsed in flight beneath the green.
Today we throw ourselves on violent Winds.
A flash of sail upon the lost horizon,
The beat to quarters drumming through our guns.

The day we sailed our mothers wept and waved,
It’s good to die at Sea.
Our fathers stood as tall and straight as masts,
It’s sweet to die at Sea.

The Spanish troll the Ocean’s reach for gold,
Their Empire will not feed itself, nor keep
Against the Dutch, who ever sail for trade.
The Portuguese must wander every water
And navigate the world for World’s sake.
The French want merely passage here to there.
I love the Sea as I love powder’s power,
My heart is pure as shot, as fire and hail.
My English will’s to rule the Ocean’s waves.
My heart is pure, and even is my keel.

Sadness is not as dreadful as tristeza,
Much less tristesse.
Gladness seems much brighter than alegria,
More braw than joie.

I passed the Boquerón as cool as death,
The leadsman constant calling out the depth.
I raided Cartagena and Cadiz
And never mussed the mustache points or beard.
They say I’m as sanguine as sanguinary,
Which is to say, I’m bloody sanguinary.
I sing how blue the sea that rolls with gore,
I sing the purple flows of blood on deck.
This is the age of man-made thunderclaps,
A time when living lightning touches hearts.

The day we sailed our children wept and waved,
It’s good to die at Sea.
Our wives stood tall and straight as masts,
It’s sweet to die at Sea.

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More Joffre on war:

My take on ancient soldier-poet Archilochus.

My poem about the romantic soldier-celebrity par excellence of the 19th century, Giuseppe Garibaldi.

My reading of G. K. Chesterton’s poem Lepanto, along with brief background on Miguel de Cervantes’ participation in that battle.

A humorous poem about the British raid on the Italian port of Taranto in World War 2.

Meet the villainous Pirate Bob.

My poem on the death of Randall Jarrell, a poet renowned for his poems about air warfare in World War 2.

My poem about Christian brotherhood in war.

My poem about the war of the Israelites against Amalek.

On the poetry of war.

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