When I was young, maybe three,
I used to dream about the sea.
I used to think of things I’d do,
While sailing on waves of blue.
When I was young, maybe four,
I never thought of misery and war.
Life was like a fairy tale,
Without stormy clouds or gale.
When I was young, maybe five,
My coloring book pictures came alive.
I colored a ship, which to my delight,
Sailed off the page and out of sight.
When I was young, maybe six,
After a rain I floated sticks,
And I imagined a virgin beach,
Other men had failed to reach.
When I was young, maybe seven,
I wondered if people sailed in heaven.
I figured, on clouds, angels float,
But I preferred water and a boat.
When I was young, maybe eight,
I wondered about my fate.
Would I ever get to see
A friendly wave, wave to me.
When I was young, maybe nine,
A sailor’s life sure looked fine.
Adventure awaited on the seas,
Or so it looked in all the movies.
When I was young, maybe ten,
I had my own small play den.
In there I had so many schemes.
In there I had so many dreams.
When I was young, about eleven,
I thought back to when I was seven.
Although those years had passed by,
My imagined world did not die.
When I was young, maybe twelve,
I had completed, on a shelf,
May types of navy ships,
And I imagined pleasure trips.
When I was young, maybe thirteen,
Life was not cruel or mean,
And since I felt little pain,
I lacked incentive to use my brain.
When I was young, maybe fourteen,
I had a problem, to me yet unseen.
I evaded responsibility,
A sign of my lack of maturity.
When I was young, maybe fifteen,
I still possessed that same old dream,
Of someday undulating on a wave,
Of having fun and being brave.
When I was young, maybe sixteen,
Mundane problems had little meaning.
I thought no more of war,
Than I did when I was four.
When I was young, maybe seventeen,
Sometimes I’d do things wild or mean.
Ideals and values I did lack.
That’s easily seen when I look back.
When I was young, maybe eighteen,
I was on the brink of my dream,
But I was in for a rude surprise,
Because my dreams were total lies.
When I was a young man of nineteen,
I finally realized that dream.
I joined the sea-going Navy,
And there started my maturity.
When I was a young man of twenty,
I was a man who learned plenty.
I could hardly believe,
That I’d been so naïve.
When I was a young man of twenty-one,
I found a sailor’s life was not fun.
I thought back to when I was three,
And those dreams of non-reality.
When I was a young man of twenty-two,
I had my answers about what to do.
The Navy and I must certainly part,
So I waited for that day to start.
When I was a young man of twenty-three,
From the Navy I was finally free.
I’d lived through four years of conflict,
No longer would I live like a convict.
Now as a young man of twenty-four,
I find that civilian life is not a bore.
As I walk anew through my future’s door,
I intend to accomplish so much more.
When I was young, I could not see,
Through the façade of fantasy.
But now let my voice be heard.
My vision is no longer blurred.
When I was young, I could not see,
But the years were my remedy.
They cast out all the hocus-pocus,
By placing my eyes and mind in focus.
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