6. A poem that relates to the bench

The magnificence of the ocean is expressed in both the poem and in the inscription on the bench. The imagery they contain is undoubtedly similar. The sea is described as “great” on the bench and one cannot help but feel the same way when reading this poem. The poem speaks of hard work and true joy, the same joy that is felt when reading the inscription on the bench. The speaker in the poem says that “there’s no other life” for him except to be a sailor; a sailor of the “gallant” sea. It is impossible to believe that there would not be hardship when living on the ocean, but the “ship” on the bench is the sailor’s home, a proverbial safe haven where he is surrounded by his “boys;” his family at sea.
The quote on the bench creates a picture on the reader’s head. It is almost like a painting with spray shooting off in to the sky as the bowsprit rises to spear a white puffy cloud. The poem, while slightly more subdued, leaves a similar image: “a three masted schooner” sailing sleekly through the waves.

Wave Over Wave

by Great Big Sea

Oh me name's Able Rodgers, a share man am I

On a three masted schooner from Twillingate Isle

I've been the world over north, south, east, and west

But the middle of nowhere wheres' I likes it best

Where its wave over wave, sea over bow

I'm as happy a man as the sea will allow

Theres no other life for a sailor like me

And to sail the salt sea boys, sail the sea

There's no other life but to sail the salt sea

Well I leave my wife lonely ten months of the year

For she built me a home and raised my children there

She never come out to bid farewell to me

Or ken why a sailor must sail the salt sea

Where its wave over wave, sea over bow

I'm as happy a man as the sea will allow
Theres no other life for a sailor like me
And to sail the salt sea boys, sail the sea
There's no other life but to sail the salt sea

The work it is hard and the hours are long

But my spirit is willing, my back it is strong

And when the works over the whisky will pour

We'll dance with the girls upon some foreign shore

I've sailed the world over for decades or more

And oft times I wonder what I do it for

I dont know the answer its pleasure and pain

But with life to live over I'd do it again

Where its wave over wave, sea over bow

I'm as happy a man as the sea will allow

Theres no other life for a sailor like me

And to sail the salt sea boys, sail the sea

There's no other life but to sail the salt sea

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