The Omen - a ballad

The Omen From Pulpit’s ship he preached in scrimshaw days And belted out a prayer of hope and praise The seamen clung to every fervid phrase Then left New Bedford’s dock in morning haze It was the eve of his first bounty search A young man prayed in Seaman’s Bethel Church That night he passed  a raven on a perch An omen spelling doom from limb of birch But nothing now could stop this sea bound youth Son of a whaler, seeking trophy tooth His father always told him that the truth Would be discovered in the prime of youth He knew that schooner, Anna, stem to stern The captain said, “Your dues you gotta earn The first time out you’ve got a lot to learn And fightin’ with this crew ain’t my concern” They were a mixed lot, anyone could tell Some from Cape Verde, some right out of hell But each man did his job and did it well And Billy Boy, he held them in his spell An image of his father, they all said A favorite whaling captain now was dead But they could see the lad was schooner bred And in his eyes, his father’s words they read Young Billy Boy had whaling in his vein And would add honor to his father’s name And now he sets out on a search for fame But never would his spirit be the same Four days a’sail and nothing came in sight Then in the middle of the darkest night The captain had a sense of dooming fright There’s something in the air that didn’t seem right No sooner said, the sea began to churn “We’ve not a single moment left to burn” The waves were wildly crashing on the stern And Billy’s heart was full of seaman’s yearn “Put this ship in iron’s, seamen. Douse her sails! Head straight into the eye of wind and hail!” The schooner pitched for hours in the gale The crew controlling helm and tethered sail But some were thrown into the ocean’s cold By force of waves above the bulkward’s hold The ship was yawing. All those strong and bold Couldn’t turn about the whaling ship of gold “Secure the boom, young lad!” the captain cried But Billy Boy was stunned by what he spied A huge blue whale abrest the starboard side Was staring at young Billy, eye to eye “A whale! A whale!”, cried son of schooner’s fame The captain shouted, “Make yourself a name! Harpoon him, lad! Harpoon him from the main! Just this one! We’ll head back home again!” “No! No!, my Captain, look how he behaves Keeping us from rolling in the waves He is a friend, I say, let him be saved Or Anna, here, will send us to our graves” “This whale, my boy, will be our certain doom It’s either he or us to be consumed Now hold on, boy, and pitch that old harpoon And you will sup next week with silver spoon” Billy took the spear and held it high He looked into the depths of mammal’s eye But could not bear the anguish felt inside And dropped the harpoon by the captain’s side “Tis I, young man, Who’ll teach you how to throw Your father’s glory you will never know” And as he raised his arms to deal the blow The whale sank to the calmer depths below The whale below,, the schooner overturned Those left on board fell in the icy churn The harpoon followed swiftly from the stern The Captain had a whaler’s table turned Until this day they tell the fateful tale Of Anna’s disappearance in the gale And Billy who was pushed atop a bail And pulled to safety by a killer whale In Seaman’s Bethel Church still William prays Remembering the raven’s piercing gaze An omen from his father to persuade His son from following the whaler’s ways It all was written in a blue whale’s eye Instead of seeing lamp oil to be burned Young Billy saw the creature dignify The truth his father wanted him to learn Written February 5th, 2002 © on Feb 05 2002 05:07 AM PST   0 • 10