Sailor's Yarn.

        While voyaging on northern seas
        For days we could not catch a breeze,
        But were held fast as if in vice
        Surrounded by the bergs of ice,
        We could not move the ship or boat
        But on low, flat iceberg we did float;
        Of provisions we took good store
        With big oars we rowed the berg to shore,
        And pride and joy each one feels
        When we had caught ten thousand seals,
        And our brave boys each one they dare
        To boldly capture great white bear;
        On floating berg we built with boards
        A storehouse for to hold our hordes,
        We had a stove and stock of coal,
        So we enjoyed this voyage droll,
        In centre of berg we dug a hole
        And erected a strong pole,
        The frost and ice soon held it fast
        And well it served us for a mast,
        On which we stretched out our sails
        And scud along before the gales,
        Until we came to an island
        And on its sides it seemed highland,
        And Britain being queen of seas,
        For her this island we did seize,
        To give her new coaling station
        For to benefit the nation,
        So when we had sailed landward
        We erected British standard
        On the highest mountain top,
        Which graceful down to sea did slope,
        We cast our anchor in its side
        So to explore it far and wide,
        But what was our astonishment
        Without the least admonishment,
        Our island soon away did float
        As if it was a mighty boat.
        Can you believe this wondrous tale?
        It proved to be a monster whale,
        And o'er the ocean quick it flew
        With our great iceberg and our crew,
        Until it came to Newfoundland,
        Where all did safe on the ground land;
        Poor whale was stranded on the beach
        And his sea home no more could reach,
        Our crew in great wealth each on shares,
        By selling whale and seals and bears,
        We hired steam tug to reach our ship,
        Now free from ice we had quick trip,
        And she being loaded down with seal,
        And we all shared in common weal,
        For joy each of us had reason,
        Making two trips in one season.

James McIntyre

James McIntyre was a Canadian poet, most notable for his poetry concerning cheese, cheese-making, dairying, and dairy products. Often referred to as 'The Cheese Poet,' McIntyre's work is celebrated for its earnestness and unintentional humor, making him both a beloved and an infamous figure in literary circles. He emigrated from Scotland to Canada in 1851 and settled in Ingersoll, Ontario, where he became a successful businessman and community leader.

James McIntyre

Harvest Home Festival.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Eagle And Salmon.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Fight Of A Buffalo With Wolves.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

The Gates Ajar.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Bear And Whale.

A fable of the British and Russian dispute of 1885.


        Russians suffer sad distress
        For lack of freedom of the press,
        But oft' times they are full able
        To enlighten with a fable.

        And they enjoy a humorous tale
        Of a bear and monster whale,
        The bear he went to the sea shore
        The mighty ocean to explore.

        And this it quick enraged the whale
        Who beat the ocean with his tail,
        With foaming words he told the bear
        That he would strip his hide and hair.

        If he ever found him more
        Encroaching on his sea shore,
        The bear replied I will not quail
        At frothing words of any whale.

        For you are a lump of blubb...

James McIntyre

Captain's Adventure.

        Three years ago my vessel lay
        In a port of Hudson Bay,
        I started off for the trading post,
        But on the way back I then got lost.

        And the thought soon gave me the blues,
        Trudging along on my snow shoes,
        Over the wastes of drifting snow,
        While the wind it did fiercely blow.

        I feared that I would be froze hard,
        For it was a fearful blizzard,
        I was growing faint and weary,
        Not the slightest hopes to cheer me.

        Without compass to bearing,
        My yells were beyond crews' hearing,
        But at last to my loud halloo
        There came a mournful ho, ho.

        From creature white I thought 'twas ghost,
        And that I was foreve...

James McIntyre

Whale And Its Foes.

        Six hundred miles north of Cape Flattery,
        On sea there seemed a floating battery,
        And stream of blood did dye the water,
        Sailors wondered what was the matter.

        But they soon saw a great sword fish
        With its bayonet make a quick rush,
        Into which proved to be large whale,
        And thrasher too did it assail.

        The whale dived deep to save its life,
        But thrasher eager for the strife,
        Knew whale must rise for to get breath,
        Then it would thrash the whale to death.

        At last the great whale it arose,
        And in distress it spouts and blows,
        In anger sweeps its mighty tail,
        Defensive weapon of the whale.

        But thrasher high i...

James McIntyre

The Merchantmen

King Solomon drew merchantmen,
Because of his desire
For peacocks, apes, and ivory,
From Tarshish unto Tyre,
With cedars out of Lebanon
Which Hiram rafted down;
But we be only sailormen
That use in London town.

Coastwise, cross-seas, round the world and back again,
Where the flaw shall head us or the full Trade suits,
Plain-sail, storm-sail, lay your board and tack again,
And that's the way we'll pay Paddy Doyle for his boots!

We bring no store of ingots,
Of spice or precious stones,
But what we have we gathered
With sweat and aching bones:
In flame beneath the Tropics,
In frost upon the floe,
And jeopardy of every wind
That does between them go.

And some we got by purchase,
And some we had by trade,
And some we ...

Rudyard

Over The Sea Our Galleys Went

Over the sea our galleys went,
With cleaving prows in order brave,
To a speeding wind and a bounding wave,

A gallant armament:
Each bark built out of a forest-tree,

Left leafy and rough as first it grew,
And nailed all over the gaping sides,
Within and without, with black bull-hides,
Seethed in fat and suppled in flame,
To bear the playful billows' game:
So, each good ship was rude to see,
Rude and bare to the outward view,

But each upbore a stately tent
Where cedar-pales in scented row
Kept out the flakes of the dancing brine,
And an awning drooped the mast below,
In fold on fold of the purple fine,
That neither noontide nor star-shine
Nor moonlight cold which maketh mad,

Might pierce the regal tenement.
When the su...

Robert Browning

Sailing Ships

Lying on Downs above the wrinkling bay
I with the kestrels shared the cleanly day,
The candid day; wind-shaven, brindled turf;
Tall cliffs; and long sea-line of marbled surf
From Cornish Lizard to the Kentish Nore
Lipping the bulwarks of the English shore,
While many a lovely ship below sailed by
On unknown errand, kempt and leisurely;
And after each, oh, after each, my heart
Fled forth, as, watching from the Downs apart,
I shared with ships good joys and fortunes wide
That might befall their beauty and their pride;

Shared first with them the blessèd void repose
Of oily days at sea, when only rose
The porpoise's slow wheel to break the sheen
Of satin water indolently green,
When for'ard the crew, caps tilted over eyes,
Lay heaped on deck; slept; mum...

Victoria Mary Sackville-West