Harry Kemp - Shanghaied

Shanghaied! . . . I swore I'd stay ashore
And sail the wide, wide seas no more! . . .
Shanghaied! Shanghaied!
Shanghaied - with pals I've never known,
And my heart's as heavy as a stone . . .
Shanghaied! . . . Shanghaied!

Yes, here's the wide, grey sea again
And the work that takes the souls from men,
Shanghaied! . . . Shanghaied!
Yes, yon's the mist they call the shore,
And here's the ropes I must haul once more -
Shanghaied! . . . Shanghaied!

Shanghaied - and on a ship I hate,
With a cur for a captain, a brute for a mate . . .
Shanghaied! . . . Shanghaied!
Oh, when I set my foot ashore
I'll drink no more . . . and I'll sail no more!
Shanghaied! . . . Shanghaied!

Harry Kemp

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/shanghaied/