Granite Ships

My first favorite rocks were in our front woods.  They were two granite ledges that jutted out of the pine needled floor.  We spent many hours on them pretending they were our ships.  We'd jump off and "swim" to the next ledge to clamber aboard.  My two brothers were on one ship, and my sister and I were on the other.  I was the oldest, so I got the pick of the ships!  At the end of the day, my mother would blow an old ship's foghorn that would resonate throughout our rural area, and all the neighbors would know we were on our way home from wherever we had been.

In summer, we braved the wind and waves

On a pine needled, pine-treed sea

Two granite ships set sail each day

With brothers and sister and me.

If you stood on the bow and used a tube

You could see forever out there.

Sometimes you could hear the barking of
A white poodle seal so rare!

Tho' the seas got quite lively and stormy
We'd never be really in fear
We always were safe from all danger
With me as the captain to steer.

We stayed all day and into the eve,

Me and my sibling crew.

We only came in to dock our ships

When the low, loud foghorn blew.

The sound of the horn meant it was time

To head in to port right away,

We were needed by landlubbers, mom and dad;

We’d set sail again the next day!

Thus were the days of my childhood
I wish that those days had not ended.
I love the memory of piney seas and
The first rock that I befriended!