Heave ho! Away we run!

🎄 Happy Christmas and a roaring New Year! 🎄 I’m fresh out of lyrics, scraped clean to the keel, So I’m striking the sails of rhyme for a spell. I’ll eat till I’m full, drink precisely null, Sleep… maybe… Snore? Absolutely, without mercy. They say I’ll be back before the New Year rings, But writing that down, I don’t trust a damn thing. If inspiration calls, I’ll pretend I’m not home, If it boards the ship... well, we’ll see where it roams. Till then: plates heavy, head empty, heart light, No songs, no verses, no fights with the night. Ay! Heave! Ho! ⚓ --------------------------------------------- The lanterns sway and the hull complains, Salt in the cut and rust in the chains. Boots bite wood like they mean to stay, We sing to work and we work to sway. The wind’s got knives and the sea’s got say, But we laugh too loud for the dark to pray. Haul the line and curse the load This ship runs crooked, but she’s owed. Heave ho! Away we run! Foam for silver, sweat for rum! Heave ho! No knee shall bend! No voice but ours till the bitter end! Sing it raw, sing it through, Storm ahead and hellfire too Heave ho! Blow it loud! We were damned the day we vowed! Now hear that sound by the broken stone, Pretty as sin with a honeyed tone. White-throat songs and coral smiles, Promise you peace for a little while. They sing of rest, they sing of release, Soft little lies dressed up as peace. Every note says “let it go” Every verse says “sink below.” Bind me fast to the mast,” cries I, “I know that tune, it’s a liar’s lullaby!” Heave ho! Shut your ears! No pretty song buys us years! Heave ho! Pull it tight! Truth don’t croon it bites! Who sings sweet and smells like death? Sirens! Sirens! Steal your breath! Who sells doom in velvet tone? Sirens! Sirens! Leave them bone! Their song is silk with a rotten seam, A painted grave and a whispered dream. Give me wind that breaks my jaw, Give me seas that know no law. I’ll take a storm that names me small Over kisses that mean nothing at all. Better drowned by a truth that roars Than loved by lies on a painted shore. Heave ho! Earn your scars! Oars like iron, hearts like stars! Heave ho! Let them cry! We’ll drown their tune in the battle sky! Sing it hoarse, sing it grim, If we go down we go down HIM! Heave ho! Storm or grave! No gilded song just what we brave! The sky goes black and the sea stands tall, Thunder talks like a cannon’s call. Rain comes hard, the rigging screams, Lightning tears the map from dreams. Hold fast! Hold fast! The storm don’t beg, the storm don’t plead, It crowns the strong and it eats the weak. No charm, no kiss, no whispered word Just bone and rope and what we’ve earned. Heave ho! Away we roam! Blood for the deck and foam for home! Heave ho! No gods, no chains! Just splintered wood and honest pain! Sing it loud till the timbers drown, Let false gods sink we’re staying bound! Heave ho! Let liars moan! We’ll face the sea on our own! No silk, no lies, no siren’s tone, Just wind, just will, just flesh and bone. Heave ho… let false gods drown…