My sea-worn heart

I've known seas tall as Himalayas belaying
sails off Cape Horn frozen as hard as iron.

Aye, with frost-bit fingers, I have dreamed of you,
my sweet darling, my one true love, my Mary Lou.

Such things I have seen! Tropic bights like gas,
oceans of temptation, where I have fallen, lass.

Such ports in Hell I've known--devil-men too.
So I have believed I'd never sail back to you.



I've braved the Sunda Trench, the Malacca Strait,
hoping beyond praying that for me you might wait!

In a fever, I do not deserve your affection--this I know:
sea serpents, shark's teeth torment me where 'ere I go.

Forgive me, Mary Lou. I am but a weak and humble man.
The sea is in my bones, my blood--it makes me what I am.

Christopher T. George