When did I first fall
in love with the sea?
When did I learn
what it was to be free?
Was it in a salt marsh
where I first learned to care?
Was it with my first breath
of a clean salty air.
I stood on the shores
of a grand old bay;
white perch and crabs
were my goal for the day.
A rising red sun
kissed a tender young cheek
of a very small boy
on the great Chesapeake.
Then I felt a new spirit
moving inside;
it could not be killed
though there some who tried.
And on some nights
as I stood on a beach,
I knew that my heavens
were just within reach.
I was baptized by
a spray in the air;
salt kissed my lips
as the sea soaked my hair.
The tears that I shed
were tears of real joy;
the joy of just being
a Chesapeake boy.
I took my freedom
and set my own course;
my love for the sea
became my driving force.
These lines I now write
these thoughts I now share
are for all of the seas
and those friends who care.
