I want a boat with tan bark sails
To sail the ocean blue
And a bow sprit stout
And a good long keel
To keep her straight and true
And down below a cabin snug
With stove to cut the chill
Of mornings up in Nootka Sound
When everything is still.
I want a boat with tan bark sails
An old gaff rig would do.
A boat like me, not young, but strong
With rigging tried and true.
A boat that loves the swoop and swerve
Of ocean swells out there
Beyond the continental shelf
Beyond the tides of care
Out there is where I want to be
On a boat with tan bark sails
With frigate birds for company
And pods of passing whales.
I’d watch her bow cut through the waves
As she danced along her way
And climb her mast to watch the stars
Before the break of day.
