The Cruise Of The Spun-Glass Ship
The
Man-Next-Door came into the room where The-Boy-in-the Wheel-Chair sat.
He grinned at the boy and the boy grinned back as they started their hour's chat.
"Which hand will You have?" said the Man-Next-Door, "The left hand or the right,
For one is empty and one is full?" The boy laughed with delight.
His small thin face grew rosy bright as he pondered the problem well,
The right or the left, the empty or full? Only his choice could tell.
"I'll take them both," he laughed at last and his voice was a joyous skip;
The Man-Next-Door held out his hand and gave him...a spun-glass ship.
A spun-glass ship as frail as smoke but, oh, so gallant and trim
With ropes and spars all set to sail to the edge of the sky's far rim.
"Now, where shall we go?" said the Man-Next-Door as he spread a world-wide map,
"To Borneo or the Lands of Snow or the tiny Isle of Yap?
For You are the Captain; I'm the Crew, and we sail wherever You say,
To the Arctic Seas or the Caribbees or to distant Buzzard's Bay."
"Oh wait ! I know where I want to go," the Boy-in-the-Wheel-Chair said,
"To Christmas Isle for a little while. It's in a book I read."
So they rode away on the spun-glass ship with dreams for wind in the sails,
While the one man crew told the Captain Bold many exciting tales
Until it seemed that they more than dreamed under the magic spell
Of the land where it's Christmas all year long...and Fourth of July as well.
They sailed to Hither, and Thither, and Yon, to the North and the South and the West,
But of all the world it was Christmas Isle that the Captain loved the best.
And the boy forgot the dull wheel-chair and the ever present pain
As they made the trip in the spun-glass ship in storm and sun and rain.
But the kindly eyes of the Man-Next-Door were filled with anxious fears
And his cheery grin was a mask to hide the ache of unshed tears
For he saw too well how the Captain Bold grew wearier every day
And how his laugh was a wistful smile as their dream-ship sailed away.
He came one day to the quiet room and called his "Ship Ahoy!"
But his voice was hushed as his quick glance fell on the face of the wheel-chair boy.
For the small thin face was white and still...but clutched in the frail hand's grip
With it's sails all set for another cruise was the gallant spun-glass ship.
"Bon voyage," said the Man-Next-Door, "You've sailed without your Crew.
Oh, Captain, may the winds be kind and the skies be ever blue.
May the final trip of the spun-glass ship ride swift with the ocean's swell
To the land where it's Christmas all year long...and Fourth of July, as well."
Don Blanding
written in 1937
He grinned at the boy and the boy grinned back as they started their hour's chat.
"Which hand will You have?" said the Man-Next-Door, "The left hand or the right,
For one is empty and one is full?" The boy laughed with delight.
His small thin face grew rosy bright as he pondered the problem well,
The right or the left, the empty or full? Only his choice could tell.
"I'll take them both," he laughed at last and his voice was a joyous skip;
The Man-Next-Door held out his hand and gave him...a spun-glass ship.
A spun-glass ship as frail as smoke but, oh, so gallant and trim
With ropes and spars all set to sail to the edge of the sky's far rim.
"Now, where shall we go?" said the Man-Next-Door as he spread a world-wide map,
"To Borneo or the Lands of Snow or the tiny Isle of Yap?
For You are the Captain; I'm the Crew, and we sail wherever You say,
To the Arctic Seas or the Caribbees or to distant Buzzard's Bay."
"Oh wait ! I know where I want to go," the Boy-in-the-Wheel-Chair said,
"To Christmas Isle for a little while. It's in a book I read."
So they rode away on the spun-glass ship with dreams for wind in the sails,
While the one man crew told the Captain Bold many exciting tales
Until it seemed that they more than dreamed under the magic spell
Of the land where it's Christmas all year long...and Fourth of July as well.
They sailed to Hither, and Thither, and Yon, to the North and the South and the West,
But of all the world it was Christmas Isle that the Captain loved the best.
And the boy forgot the dull wheel-chair and the ever present pain
As they made the trip in the spun-glass ship in storm and sun and rain.
But the kindly eyes of the Man-Next-Door were filled with anxious fears
And his cheery grin was a mask to hide the ache of unshed tears
For he saw too well how the Captain Bold grew wearier every day
And how his laugh was a wistful smile as their dream-ship sailed away.
He came one day to the quiet room and called his "Ship Ahoy!"
But his voice was hushed as his quick glance fell on the face of the wheel-chair boy.
For the small thin face was white and still...but clutched in the frail hand's grip
With it's sails all set for another cruise was the gallant spun-glass ship.
"Bon voyage," said the Man-Next-Door, "You've sailed without your Crew.
Oh, Captain, may the winds be kind and the skies be ever blue.
May the final trip of the spun-glass ship ride swift with the ocean's swell
To the land where it's Christmas all year long...and Fourth of July, as well."
Don Blanding
written in 1937
In my family it was a tradition to read this poem every year. The volunteer to read became harder to get each time because none of us could read it without crying. Thank you to the author and to my grandmother, Agnes Cox Wiles for giving it to us.
ReplyDelete