"SOME likes pictures o' women," said Bill, "an' some likes 'orses best," As he fitted a pair of fancy shackles on to his old sea chest, "But I likes picturs o' ships," said he, "an' you can keep the rest. "An' if I was a ruddy millionaire with dollars to burn that way, Instead of a dead-broke sailorman as never saves his pay, I'd go to some big paintin' guy, an' this is what I'd say: "'Paint me the @3Cutty Sark@1,' I'd say, 'or the old @3Thermopylae@1, Or the @3Star o' Peace@1 as I sailed in once in my young days at sea, Shipshape and Blackwall fashion, too, as a clipper ought to be. . . . "'An' you might do 'er outward bound, with a sky full o' clouds, An' the tug just dropping astern, an' gulls flyin' in crowds, An' the decks shiny-wet with rain, an' the wind shakin' the shrouds. . . . "'Or else racin' up Channel with a sou'wester blow in', Stuns'ls set aloft and alow, an' a hoist o' flags showin', An' a white bone between her teeth so's you can see she's goin'. . . . "'Or you might do 'er off Cape Stiff, in the high latitudes yonder, With 'er main deck a smother of white, an' her lee-rail dippin' under, An' the big greybeards racin' by an' breakin' aboard like thunder. . . . "'Or I'd like old Tuskar somewheres abound . . . or Sydney 'Eads maybe . . . Or a couple o' junks, if she's tradin' East, to show it's the China Sea . . . Or Bar Light . . . or the Tail o' the Bank . . . or a glimp o' Circular Quay. "'An' I don't want no dabs o' paint as you can't tell what they are, Whether they're shadders, or fellers' faces, or blocks, or blobs o' tar, But I want gear as looks like gear, an' a spar that's like a spar. "'An' I don't care if it's North or South, the Trades or the China Sea, Shortened down or everything set -- close-hauled or runnin' free -- You paint me a ship as is like a ship . . . an' that'll do for me!'" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: MANY SOLDIERS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS OF JACOPO DEL SELLAIO by EZRA POUND CONRAD AT TWILIGHT by JOHN CROWE RANSOM HARRISON STREET COURT by CARL SANDBURG THE SHAPE OF THE CORONER by WALLACE STEVENS HYBRIDS OF WAR: A MORALITY POEM: 1. VIETNAM by KAREN SWENSON MIDSUMMER NIGHT by SARA TEASDALE |