The Doldrums
The wind won’t blow
And the sails hang limp and gray
The sun burns and the heat broils
And the air has gone astray
The sweat runs and stings my eyes
And blisters cry in pain
The waters oily slick and slime
And not a chance of rain
Oh give me a breath of air I pray
A man not used to prayer
Send me a zephyr any breeze
To lift me from this bier
I’ve drifted here an eternity
without a drop of water
Another day I will not see
Without the taste of water
I lie on my blistered back
And stare at the hateful sun
My eyes are bleached and dry
And I know my course is run
My withered corpse will drift
Across the wide wide sea
And land somewhere in obscurity
A place never dreamed by me
And yet I cling forlorn
Like a spider to his web
To this my fragile life
And watch it slowly ebb
In my feverish mind
I smell the green green grass
And drink from the cold cold spring
And smile and smile alas
The water will not wet my lips
And my tongue will not taste
Another drop of water
On this briny waste
For I am becalmed
On the endless sea of eternity
The beginning and end of life
The beginning and end of me
