761 - The Expedition

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #181) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

sense, speech, sheets, goblets, signs, vital,

name, broken, away, strips, connected, poem

The Expedition

The word had reached the Empire

Of riches far away;

Of spices, gold and willing girls,

Of reindeer and a sleigh,

The vital signs that are required

For a mercenary foray.

The expedition was assembled,

Five bankers had been found,

Endless speeches had been given,

The boat they had was sound,

They filled its hold with puddings,

Rejecting those not round.

The sails were sheets of onion skins

Cut  into even strips,

The ballast was unbroken plates

Though some of them had chips,

And a passing poet was shanghaied,

To record the epic trip.

The captain was a cantaloupe,

The crew, a herd of sheep,

The first mate was a three-toed sloth

And spent the day asleep;

The cook was known to drink a bit

And predisposed to weep.

The bosun was well connected,

His father was an earl,

Who’d sent his son off to the sea

To teach him of the world,

But couldn’t dampen his inner love

Of dressing like a girl.

They charged their goblets and raised a toast,

They named the ship ‘Ptomaine’,

The crew all sensed the moment too

And tried to break their chains,

They then sailed into the setting sun

And were never seen again.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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