A Ditty for the Day with no particular rhyme or scansion for better or for worse

 

The wind blew strong,

The Ramble rippled,

The Pirates ate a mighty breakfast,

(all except the black pudding, that is)

While they laid their plans of derring- do.

The crew turned up,

A motley bunch,

Some dressed for the Arctic,

And others for Sahara

Some in canoes,

Many in Kayaks,

And one, statuesque as he Supped.

 

The tide took them

Amongst the gin palaces

And the beer bungalows,

Until they came to the wide lagoon,

Where river monsters

Woken by speed boats,

Grabbed the Sup-per

And pulled him down.

Whilst some tracked figures of eight,

Others cruised on, all

Under soaring birds of prey

Next fluffy ducklings

To a landing place for rest and revelry,

And eating of a cake

Which the cook declared as rubbish

But tasted fine to us.

And visits to another friendly Club

(Can you believe?),

With such a mighty shed

It would swallow ten of ours.

Then off again

A race against a falling tide,

Trees dipped down to the water

Which Pirates had to climb over to climb back in,

Who knows why Pirates do the things they do.

Egged on by those scallywags,

All bent a limbo dance under arching branches

The ooze monsters clutched at paddles

As the river ran away

And so to the pub

For Hazel to perfect her mud-wrestling.

Oh how we laughed.

Others scrambled up the slipway legs

Looming above us as the river raced away

Along with Kim

Who. while most relaxed,

Took on the wind, racing back with the tide

And so the end of another day,

Of laughter, humour and a gentle bumble

Along the River Hamble which for the purposes of this last line would be better as Humble