[Intro]
[Verse]
I have done my bit of carving
Figureheads of quaint design
For the Olives and the Ruddocks
And the famous Black Ball Line
Brigantines and barques and clippers
Brigs and schooners, lithe and tall
But the bounding Marco Polo
Was the proudest of them all
[Chorus]
And while my hand is steady
While my eyes are good
I will carve the music
Of the wind into the wood
[Verse]
I can see that white-winged clipper
Reeling under scudding clouds
Tramping down a hazy skyline
With a Norther in her shrouds
I can feel her lines of beauty
See her flecked with spume and brine
As she drives her scuppers under
And that figurehead of mine
[Chorus]
And while my hand is steady
While my eyes are good
I will carve the music
Of the wind into the wood
[Verse]
Twas of seasoned pine I made it
Clear from outer bark to core
And the finest piece of timber
From the mast-pond on Straight Shore
Every bite of axe or chisel
Every ringing mallet welt
Brought from out that piece of timber
All the spirit that I felt
[Chorus]
And while my hand is steady
While my eyes are good
I will carve the music
Of the wind into the wood
[Verse]
I had read of Marco Polo
Till his daring deeds were mine
And I saw them all a-glowing
In that balsam-scented pine
Saw his eyes alight with purpose
Facing every vagrant breeze
Saw him lifting, free and careless
Over all the Seven Seas
[Chorus]
And while my hand is steady
While my eyes are good
I will carve the music
Of the wind into the wood
[Verse]
That was how I did my carving
Beat of heart and stroke of hand
Blended into life and action
All the purpose that I planned
Flowing robes and wind-tossed tresses
Forms of beauty, strength, design
Saw them all, and strove to carve them
In those figureheads of mine
[Chorus]
And while my hand is steady
While my eyes are good
I will carve the music
Of the wind into the wood
[Verse]
I am old, my hands are feeble
And my outward eyes are dim
But I see again those clippers
Lifting o er the ocean s rim
Great white fleet of reeling rovers
Wind above, the surf beneath
And the Marco Polo leading
With my carving in her teeth
[Chorus]
And while my hand is steady
While my eyes are good
I will carve the music
Of the wind into the wood
[Chorus]
And while my hand is steady
While my eyes are good
I will carve the music
Of the wind into the wood
