A Quarter of a Century

A score and a quarter ago

Seas were calm as sleeping ice

A quarter of a century later

Time and tide by waves arise

Sailors race with cannonballs

In bulletproof vests

Wars are fought for peace

And in peace the many rest

Where current be, we sail

And let stars navigate

Since birthing stalled I not

Til now I ne'er do wait

I'm anchored to the vast

Where danger say there be

My boot brings me to venture

And emprise comes to me

I've been to waters lost

And have found ships a-sunk

I've been soberest when dreams

Forgot to get me drunk

I've been loving, hating, torn

Between the locker and the green

It has been dearly nondescript

The moments that I've been

Now's familiar, only further

Still in feat, but parlous more

And the skirmishes that dabbed me

Had emended me to core

I'm in a race with cannonballs

In my bulletproof best

I protect my vessel's peace

By ruling every test

From a score and a quarter ago

Mind this soul i have become

You can hide the rest away

But I'll always find the rum