He cannot tell it,
Aged Captain wants for words
Daughter reads instead the tale,
Of each knot tied, each wave ridden,
Feeling through pages stained with salt spray,

His record; this man,
Removed from service,
From travails to a silent study,
Flags draped; shrouds upon a life,
That clings like crusted barnacles,
Pressed hard to ‘scape drowning,

Calls of gulls without are lost,
Mariners’ shouts carry not to rouse him.