The Ghost of a Ship

Sail the sailors through the mist,

Ahoy! I see a ship adrift,

called the voice from the crow,

It stands still, ignoring the tidal flow.

Change the course,

the captain commanded,

Let us see and save,

what can be founded.

The ship rolled through the dividing ocean,

bouncing on the waves.

As it approached the stagnant vessel,

crew could see its sails.

Tattered and weathered,

like fresh from a storm,

The ship could do nothing more

but float on its own.

The sailors feared now,

for they had heard of such a ship,

one that floats in these waters,

though none but ghosts live on it.

So they moved away,

as fast as they could,

snatching the last hope of survival,

for die, the ghosts would.

The following lines were added later:

Thus once more the ship was seen,

it was told,

the ghosts ever more fiercer,

and the wood stale and old.

The sailors in these waters,

now numbered very few,

no ship would help another,

it was said there were ghosts anew.