"Aye Ye Matey, Windward's the Name"

It was summer vacation And I was spending it at the ocean At my family’s cliff-side home And I was thoroughly enjoying the solitude Of my being there all alone The cliff-side house is the house That was built by my great great grandfather Few come here anymore It needs some tending But still a beautiful here upon the shore The days had all been warm and sunny The rhythmic waves never varied From their constant washing of the shore Sea gulls squawked their always complaints Always heard above the ocean’s roar Soon there came a day Unlike the days as before There came from out of the ocean An early morning summer storm An awakening lightning struck near the lighthouse Huge waves crashed against the boulders The wind and the rain and the crashing salty water Made it all somewhat colder This would be a day spent inside the old house So I set myself to explore And it was soon that I found myself Standing at the top of the stairs Opening the attic-way door With a lighted candle I entered the dark filled room And every so often a lightning bolt Would flash through the window Creating the eeriest loom Although dark and foreboding one would assume I felt no fear...Not even the slightest sense of doom I felt as a child-explorer on some adventurous park ride An Egyptian lost tomb What unknown treasures lay inside There were treasures everywhere There was an old diving-bell helmet Made of copper and brass With little round windows Made of the thickest glass An old set of English teacups with pot I found newspaper wrapped And so carefully boxed An angled piece of polished wood I found just lying about A down-under boomerang Without a doubt An African shield with spear and mask A hula dress Made of long dried grass All about me were strewn My great great grandfather’s treasures A man I never knew And then...There in a dimly lit corner Behind a painted oriental screen The light hit it just right From my little candle’s beam An old sea chest Filled with...Yet Even more unknown wonderful things There as I moved the decorative screen away The sun came through the window glass In a warm burst of rays Quickly gone was the storm That had set my adventurous day I pulled the chest near to the window Setting free the cob-webs and dust Hinges and hasp all trimmed in brass...No rust It was mine to open And to know what lay inside...Was a must The hasp was closed but not locked So I slowly lifted open its top And there in the light As though on a spot-lighted stage All alit were the treasures That the old chest contained There to the left Among some charts and maps All tooled in gold Lay a Sea Captain’s hat There to the right Tucked down way in A half hour glass Still dry was its sand Near the back A shiny brass telescoping glass And there in the front of the chest A large compass pointing west And beneath it all I found a Captain’s uniform All decorated with medals Of shinning silver and gold Here I had found a mystery One that my family never told It came to my mind That maybe even they didn’t know I sat the telescope The sand time glass and the compass Each on the floor Carefully I removed The Captain’s dress uniform Perfect was the condition of its fabric I noticed there were no moth eaten holes For the chest was cedar wood lined Everything about this old sea chest Was of the finest quality of its time When I removed the uniform I uncovered a huge book All brass and leather bound Oh...What mystical treasure had I found How old could it be This huge tome How many years had this book been here Unread...Alone I pulled it from the chest Its long time darken grave I removed it from its dormant rest No telling how long it had laid There I was seated on the floor All aglow in the window’s rays I opened its leather binder And looked upon the elegance Of a gold bordered page An old family bible I had found A book I suspected None of the rest of my family Even knew was around I began leafing through the pages One golden edged leaf at a time It brought a kind of rush to me This treasure...This wonderful find The first few pages Were intended to be for begotten names Who begot who And the times and the places That all the begetting began But a line had been drawn through The title at the top of the page And written in bold hand just below Instead in its place These Are My Children... From God With Grace Yes...These pages were filled And I had never heard of Any of the names There was always the hint That there was a Captain And he was a little somewhat strange I continued with what was now a quest Turning the pages of the huge tome Soon I turned to an inserted loose paper Hand written...Just stuck in alone The paper was signed by a lad named John It told about how he wanted to be just like his Papa And how proud he was to be his Papa’s son It was a delightful paper that I read It told about dreams That a lot of little boys once had It was a wonderful find Those old thoughts...Written back in that time And at the bottom paper...John Windward signed Queried became my thoughts Oh but...What other delightful morsels might I find There I was seated cross-legged upon the floor Still all alit by the window’s rays I did not remove that paper...I just left it there For I felt it was somehow a part of the book And it needed to stay The surprise of the unbound paper find Seemed to quicken my play It all felt like I was seated upon And now a part of A leather-bound... Etched and bordered in gold... Kindly shanghaied...Lured onto... An old Captain’s stage Leaf after holy leaf I turned Being so very careful with everyone Excited with each In what might be yet to come Many unbound papers I found placed therein There I took the day and read each one There I got to know An old Sea Dog named John I have reproduced those old papers And placed a copy of each herein So if you have a mind to Here inside you might find Someone who long ago You would have called a friend “Aye Ye Matey, Windward’s The Name”