The Fairest Ship

To the memory of the good Professor,
who continues to inspire us all.




There was a little fishing town
On edge of barren plain
And down beside the harbour lay
A ship without a name.

Once, countless years ago,
When pirates ruled the seas
She was the fairest ship to sail
Before the ocean breeze.

But Time, most cruel of highwaymen,
Who stalked long in her wake,
Came to her as to us all,
His vengence for to take.

Her sails were torn, her rudder stiff,
Her hull was bleached and bare
White gulls gathered on her prow
And beat the salty air.

There was an ancient mariner
With hair and beard of grey
Who went down to the harbourside
And sat with her each day.

He sat by her from crack of dawn
Ere morning's first keel rang.
He sat and wove his fishing nets
And as he worked he sang

Of Elven-kings with golden rings
And eyes as bright as sun
And Dwarven-lords in carven halls
Where silver rivers run.

He told her of a princess
In a distant, far-off land
Who lived by day in fortress grey
Upon the windy strand.

Fair of face and willowy
And graceful too was she
And young men came from far around
Her suitors for to be.

But he said she had been captured
Bya group of evil men.
And the King had sent a great army
To free the fair maiden.

And then one day to harbour grey
A band of men rode in
All swathed in clothes of red and gold
With a message from the King.

"Ahoy, old mariner!" said they,
"Have ye not heard the news?
The evil men, they are all slain,
The Princess is rescued!"

"Ahoy, good mariner!" said they,
"The oceans you have roamed!
A ship we need, possessed of speed
To bear the princess home!"

"That ship," the mariner did say.
"Down there, in harbour grey,
"She is strong and swift and fleet;
She'll bring yer princess hae'!"

"She may no more be fair," said he,
"She may be bare and plain,
But ne'er a bonnier ship than she
Was set upon the main!"

"No more, no more," the King's men cried
"Shall she be bare and plain!
By our own word, we shall return
To make her fair again!"

True to their word, that same bright day
To haven they did bring
Carpenters and shipwrights too
And many a fine thing.

They came with tar to heal her scars
That ran from side to side
And gilt wood oars from foreign shores
Across the ocean wide.

They brought her sails like fishes' mail
'twere rafted with great care,
And ropes entwined as thick as vines
And spun from maidens' hair.

"Rejoice, rejoice!" the King's men cried.
"The task at last is done!
We sail this day into the West
To chase the setting sun!"

And on that day, away sailed she,
To a strange and distant shore
And over seas and oceans wide
The princess home she bore.

And as upon the morning tide
To harbour grey she crept,
She knew by all the stars above
The men their word had kept!

For from then 'til the ends of Earth
The people, they did say,
"'Twas ne'er a fairer ship than she
That bore the princess hae'!"