SEA FEVER

I read this one on BBC radio some months ago and it seemed to strike a chord with a number of listeners. I suppose that many of us fall short of our earliest hopes and dreams and discover, often too late, that time takes no prisoners. 

SHIP IN A BOTTLE

He dreamed of oceans as a child;

would run away to sea when grown;

might sail the chill Atlantic, wild,

or broad Pacific, tempest blown,

but grown to adulthood, he failed  

in everything. There was no prow

or spreading wake: he never sailed.

He seeks his ships in bottles now.