The Ships Of Yule

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 silks 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.