A ship once set sail

From the Harbor of Truth

A ship once sleek and proud

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Sailors stout, lithe and hale

Though some held aloof

Watched the cheering crowd

/

Soon they cast off

A voyage of hope

Who knew what lay ahead?

/

Winds freedom aloft

A song in their throats

And nary a cross word was said

/

Or so it seemed

But beneath the beams

Of the ships bulwarks a meeting was held

/

A collective was formed

‘Twas out of the norm

A sailors and officers guild

/

A storm soon arose

Though weather was calm

The collective demands must be met

/

For the sake of all those

To repair and tempers to balm

Drills they must hastily get

/

Sharp bits they must have

To save on hand salve

To make the repairs on the ship

/

The officers with a laugh

Gave the whole not the half

To ensure the crew would not split

/

So with shiny new drills

And newfound skills

The collective went to work about the ship

/

Then with dismay

Amidst the fray

Came a shout, “The ships about to tip!”

/

The captain now could see

The sailors should not drill

Those holes there in the hull

/

How now to plea

Against collective will

The captain these thoughts to mull

/

“Perhaps,” the captain sighed,

“Negotiate with me?

The hull is not a place to drill a hole.”

/

“You dare,” the collective cried,

You can’t see

To drill, my right, my soul!”

/

“Standing in this swill

Trade a bucket for a drill?”

The captain with them tried to reason

/

“We are not dull!

You are hiding more hull!

To drill, our right, our time, our season!

/

So the ship sank

Every rail, mast and plank

With holes drilled through and through

/

The collective was blind

To reason and rhyme

It wanted what it thought it was due

/

But sadly that day

Some had no say

The passengers died with no voice

/

Their ship went down

Their voices drowned

They silently died with no voice

/

This poem is through

The moral is true

This allegorical device

/

If unions negotiate

They must let participate

Those who pay the price

/

A ship once set sail

From the Harbor of Truth

A ship once sleek and proud