A Sailor's Life

Dit gedicht is geschreven door Yara tijdens haar periode als matroos in opleiding tijdens de Beagle reis. Inmiddels volmatroos en zit naast me op het terras hier. Deze tekst geeft een beetje weer wat het allemaal inhoud, het is en blijft moeilijk te omschrijven.

A sailor's life
Sailors are peculiar creatures
Equipped with some disturbing features;
They growl, they fight, they scold and yell,
And always have some tough stories to tell.
Never satisfied with their wage,
They're oft quite easy to enrage
Truth be told, it's no simple life
So far away from husband or wife
All over the seven seas they roam
Calling a sturdy ship their home.
Observing them in their natural habitat -
Well, you just ain't seen nothing yet!
From a landlubber's point of view
Their whole world is strange and new
Working hard, be it night or day
(Darkness won't stand in their way)
Teamed up in watches of quite a few
But it can be solitary, too;
Working aloft for hours straight
Seeminglessly unafraid,
In storm, hail, sun or rain,
Freezing, sweating or in pain.
The one thing that can keep you going strong
Is for all to strive to get along
For there are some difficulties you face
Living together in so little space
On a ship, when people get annoyed
They're not that easy to avoid.
When you work and live together too
There's nowhere to hide for you..
And so the life requires social adaptations
Trust, commitment, respect, patience
Once you have these skills, you'll survive
And enjoy a blissful sailor's life.

Written on board the Stad Amsterdam between Fernando de Noronha and the Strait of Magellan,
By Yara Rood