Thread: Sailing Lad (Foolhardy)

On a day as bright and clear as glass,
A fool of a lad sat on the grass
About to become a man at last
But he was too fool-hardy.
As he rose he saw the sea,
And said; “That is where I want to be,
I was born to spend my life at sea,
Out among the hardy.”

“Let him be,” they said, “he’s blind
Let him go and seek his kind
The gods for him will fair provide
He is that foolhardy.”

They that saw could not but laugh,
At the thought of a life before the mast
They knew the time for dreams had passed
But he was too foolhardy.
His father was himself beside,
As were his mother and his bride,
His lunacy they all decried
Calling him foolhardy.

“Let him be,” they said, “he’s blind
Let him go and seek his kind
The gods for him will fair provide
He is that foolhardy.”

Free to work, he made a boat
And made six more before t’would float
And when twas done, he came to gloat
He was that foolhardy.
He set off fresh that next morn
And set a course straight for a storm
Though the others all him did warn
He was too foolhardy.

“Let him be,” they said, “he’s blind
Let him go and seek his kind
The gods for him will fair provide
He is that foolhardy.”

The sky was rent by roar and flash,
The light of a thousand gods attacked
But nary a chance that he’d turn back
He was too foolhardy.
His hull was rent and bent and smashed,
His sails torn clear by thunderclap,
And as he sank still he’d laugh
He was that foolhardy.

So come all ye that know the tale
And mark these words for else you’ll fail
And join that lad beyond the pale
In the land of the foolhardy.

“Let him be,” they said, “he’s blind
Let him go and seek his kind
The gods for him will fair provide
He is that foolhardy!”

A really excellent song, I love the language and progression. Would I be wrong in guessing this would be played in a traditional/folk style, the chorus could almost be a shanty.

Interesting song. I'm thinking more along the lines of a scottish folk song.