Bab-el-Mandeb

Set sail again
We hearty alchemists
Who transmutate
Riches of imagination
Into gold-laden pockets

We crave the open
The cry of the gulls
The taste of salt air
Free of the shackles
Of lovers and wives

Across the ocean
We approach the Red Sea
Head into the strait
Where jeweled Africa awaits
With beguiling splendors

Legends be damned
We sailors fear not
Our blood is more real
Than the Seven Brothers
And the ghosts lying beneath

With spyglass to eye
Our stalwart captain
Seeks Urania’s aid
But an unseasonal storm
Shrouds our fair guide

And before we are aware
We forlorn shipmates
In this tiny vessel
Have fatedly approached
The Gate of Tears.