[swdw]

Who Loved So Well (A sailor's eulogy)

We sailed the sea by oceans light,
Around the horn through restless night.
Our course and luck did make it right
To see things new in strange delight.

The seas were harsh and took their toll
With branded flesh and tortured soul,
And when at last the sun sat low,
It touched the earth with blood red glow.

Silver breakers plight our trough
To sails unfurled and winds aloft.
Spirits soar on breezes free
That bear the souls of sailors, we.

Hear our prayer, oh Lord our God;
We lived to serve and wield thy rod.
Though wretches we, and racked with flaws,
We are the ones who fought thy cause.

Now bleached white bones on foreign sands,
Attest the toll in far off lands
For those who heard their country's call;
Brave sailors each, who came to fall.

Remember those who served on ships,
And bid farewell on endless trips
Across the seas to Timbuktu,
And lived and died; these chosen few.

We ask this Lord, for those so true,
And honor bound beneath skies blue,
Who served and died for freedom's hand
To hold and cherish this, your land.

A sailor's death on ships of sleep
With few to know and none to weep
For faith so brave, a soul to keep;
A silent grave in oceans deep.

And when the end has come at last,
And unfilled shadows heaven casts,
Remember we who served and fell,
And to the hosts of heaven tell;
Bring home my boys who loved so well.


Godspeed and farewell Dave. You may have been in the Army, but you were a sailor at heart.