Lifeboat

I captained a ship that tides had washed
A pale and feeble gray
I made my men to wash the deck
Every single day

And so my ship, though pale and old
Was always known as clean
We worked so hard, my men and me
We'd never even seen

The vastness of the ocean
Or the stones of foreign shores
The lifeboat was un-needed
And never used, its oars