I don’t really have social media accounts, so I guess I’ll be emailing a truncated version of this one in. But I couldn’t resist putting the whole shanty up here.
Come you young trav’lers,
To me turn your eye -
I’ll sing of the stars
In this sunless sky.
(Chorus)
And we’re out in the deep now
We’re out from the night,
We’re out in the cold
Of the High Wilder’s light.
There goes a Guest with its false face and home,
Best 'ware the old places with fuel still to roam.
(Chorus)
There goes an aged Spinster in search of a page,
Sly devils be wary of courting her rage.
(Chorus)
There goes a flag of the Empress’s throne,
Make minutes be spared and make hours atone.
(Chorus)
There goes the dark hole where the mem’ries all fell,
Where all winds shall blow and all things shall be well.
I gots one:
Do you recall how we came to this place?
We escaped from the Neath to the darkness of space!
We battened our hatches and took to the sky,
Out in the stars our trains learned to fly!
We’ll remember that day. It won’t be as it was.
For London’s in space! And there it will stay.
[Preferably sung/shouted by tone-deaf zailors]
Does anyone know what particular failbetter email I should use to send it in?
Oh, you who wish to cross the sky,
Before your journey begins,
Know that you must always keep an eye
Out for the Wilderness Winds
(Chorus)
Oh, the Seven Winds of the Wilderness,
They scream and gust and blow
And trusting to their tenderness
Is the most foolish thing I know
The Wind of Ages takes its time
And thrusts it onto you
And if you don’t wish to be eighty and nine
Please stay away, please do
(Chorus)
The Peacock Wind it shows its hues
And sorely taxes the mind
Those oranges and greens and blues
Are the worst horrors you may find
(Chorus)
The Wind of Souls spreads the stars’ seeds
Across the whole of the Sky
And those it touches never shall bleed
But very promptly shall die
(Chorus)
The Chiming Wind sounds very sweet
With peals that come from no bells
But if your ears should with it meet
You’ll never hear aught else
(Chorus)
The Wind of Light it shines on all
And lays bare all your sins
And the guilt and the shame and the knowing of the Name
Has driven many to their ends
(Chorus)
The Wind of Minds can take your thoughts
And blow them clean away
And that which often a penny has bought
Out in the void shall stay
(Chorus)
The Seventh Wind it has no name
For [REDACTED]
[REDACTED]
[REDACTED] from the Wells
(Chorus)
Now all the winds I’ve told you of
But I know you’ll leave e’en so
For the need, or the greed, or the foolish love
Have told you you must go
I posted mine everywhere but here. The goal is reached, but enjoy my adequate shanty. The meter starts falling apart quickly but it still holds up well as something sung:
“Breaking Our Chains”
We’ve seen the seven seas and one
With fortune in our sails,
But none have left our hearts so full
As freedoms Skies unveil.
[Chorus]
There is no chain that binds us,
No law we need obey.
When in the wilds highest
Man’s order fades away.
No kings nor Masters nor Empress
Dictate our destiny.
For we who congress with the Stars
Won’t ever bend the knee.
[Chorus]
Now take a drink alongside me,
Not grape nor mushroom foul.
Drink deep of life in sunless skies
And don the Phrygian cowl.
[Chorus]