My Dreary Galley Girl

I met her in a half dream
When the sea did churn its brine
And the waves gnashed the salted wood
My dreary galley girl

In milky morning hours
How the sails billowed and tucked
And the hull moaned its weary tune
My sleepy galley girl

She strolled down many planks
Fine as avian bone and flesh
Dangling dusty toes over board and edge
My plucky galley girl

She told me in that half dream
To never scorn the sea
It called the souls of the weary back home
My dreamy galley girl

And to the melody of the ship’s exhaust
The siren’s deadly song
My turpentine lullaby, my soft submission
My only galley girl