The Ships of Yule by Bliss Carman — Read

When I was just a little boy, / Before I went to school, / I had a fleet of forty sail / I called the Ships of Yule;

Of every rig, from rakish brig / And gallant barkentine, / To little Fundy fishing boats / With gunwales painted green.

They used to go on trading trips / Around the world for me, / For though I had to stay on shore / My heart was on the sea.

They stopped at every port to call / From Babylon to Rome, / To load with all the lovely things / We never had at home;

With elephants and ivory / Bought from the King of Tyre, / And shells and silk and sandal-wood / That sailor men admire;

With figs and dates from Samarcand, / And squatty ginger-jars, / And scented silver amulets / From Indian bazaars;

With sugar-cane from Port of Spain, / And monkeys from Ceylon, / And paper lanterns from Pekin / With painted dragons on;

With cocoanuts from Zanzibar, / And pines from Singapore; / And when they had unloaded these / They could go back for more.

And even after I was big / And had to go to school, / My mind was often far away / Aboard the Ships of Yule.