The Sailor [poem by C. J. Dennis]

[Editor: This poem by C. J. Dennis was published in A Book for Kids, 1921.]

The Sailor

I’d like to be a sailor — a sailor bold and bluff —
Calling out, “Ship ahoy!” in manly tones and gruff.
I’d learn to box the compass, and to reef and tack and luff;
I’d sniff and sniff the briny breeze and never get enough.
Perhaps I’d chew tobacco, or an old black pipe I’d puff;
But I wouldn’t be a sailor if . . . .
The sea was very rough.

Would you?

Source:
C. J. Dennis. A Book for Kids, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, [1921], page 109