The lesson you'd do well not to forget

Your life could be the one it's wisdom saves

At sea, where you're beleaguered and beset

On every side by strife of wind and waves


Despite the best of maps and the bravest men

For all their mighty names and massive forms

There'll never be and has never been

A ship or fleet secure against the storms


When kings upon the main have clung to pride

And held themselves to masters of the sea

I've held them down beneath the crushing tide

Till they have learned that no one masters me


But grace can still be found within the gale

With fear and reverence, raise your ragged sail