The Surfman’s Song

Along the cold and lonely coast

In storms the surfmen wander

Watching for the sailing ships

That flounder in the water

Through lonely, cold and stormy nights

The surfmen watch the tide

For if a ship wrecks on the coast

They go out to rescue lives

On a bitter winter night

A storm batters the shore

The surfmen huddle round the fire

As the wind rattles the door

Their comrade bursts into the room

The snow thick on his coat

And in a breathless voice he says

“There’s a ship wrecked off the coast”

The keeper jumps up from his chair

A grimness in his eye

“Come boys, we have work to do!”

He glares up at the sky

“Go fetch the boats!” he orders now

“Though the night be chill and black,

Our orders say we must go out

Nothing ’bout coming back”

They drag the boat down to the beach

Where the waves crash on the sand

They push the boat into the surf

As the wind stiffens their hands

Then to the ship the surfmen row

Though the sea fights with all her might

For on the wind the sailor’s cries

Call them into the night

The waves crash hard and thundering

The wind shrieks shrill and long

The snow flies down in flurries chill

Rain freezes where it falls

But the surfmen still pull on their oars

And pay no heed to the gale

Seven sailors need their aid

In the snow, the sleet and hail

They reach the ship that’s going down

And pull the sailors in

Then back to shore they set their sights

And row into the wind

They come to shore and to their fire

To rest upon the land

The keeper still is looking out

In case they’re needed ‘gain

Along the cold and lonely coast

In storms the surfmen wander

Watching for the sailing ships

That flounder in the water

Through lonely, cold and stormy nights

The surfmen watch the tide

For if a ship wrecks on the coast

They go out to rescue lives

Tuppence Van de Vaarst (2nd Place in Poetry)