A Sailor’s Prayer

 

Long ago I was a Sailor.
I have put this up before, but it might even be you?
So here it is again. It’s who I am.
Long ago I was a Sailor.
I sailed the Ocean blue.
I knew the bars in Singapore…
The coastline of Peru.
I knew well the sting of salt spray,
The taste of Spanish wine,
The beauty of the Orient…
Yes, all these things were mine.
But I wear a different hat now,
Jeans & T-shirts too.
My sailing days were long ago…
With that life, I am through.
But somewhere deep inside of me…
The sailor lives there still.
He longs to go to sea again,
But knows he never will.
My love, my life, is here at home,
And I will leave here never.
Though mind and body stay ashore…
My heart’s at sea forever

Memorial Day is obsessed with the Military.

Merchant Marine losses during the Second World War exceeded the individual losses of the Army, Navy or Marine Corp. Over four percent of the serving sailors lost their lives. That’s just in US service. I am not sure about the losses of our Allies like the British Merchant Navy.

Despite this heavy sacrifice little is said on Memorial Day about the dead and missing Merchant Mariners. My own father survived two ships sunk by torpedo.

While you are thinking tomorrow of the sacrifice in war time take a moment to think about the Merchant sailors who gave their lives to supply the war effort.

There are many Sailors Prayers and poems about the sailor coming home from the sea. Someone named L. Hutton wrote this one, and it describes to a T my father; who I’ll be thinking about on Memorial Day.