Parallels Lives

There are so many parallels between living on a boat and living on the bank. Some people have tidy roof gardens and others cultivate a wildlife reserve. Its all a matter of perspectives. However, its not your perspective that matters, it theirs. It's the same with boats, there is the shiny boater and then there is the grimy boater.

Parallels Lives

I am a very shiny boater, as proud as proud could be;

Polished are my mushrooms, that takes all day you see;

My paint work is gleaming, my lines all neatly coiled;

Then came along the rain, and all my effort spoiled.

My beds are always made, just as soon as I get up;

Everything is ultra tidy, I wash and clean my cup;

No dogs cats or kids, will you find aboard this boat;

Tied to a marina moorings, used as a protective moat.

I don't like the grimy boater, what he does just gets my goat;

Should live his life just like me, and wash and clean his boat;

Take down and clean those curtains, then wash and coil his ropes;

If cleanliness is next to godliness, so for grimy there is no hope.

------- O ------

I am a very grimy boater, logs piled high upon my roof;

I love the life on the cut, relaxed - carefree that's the truth;

Care worn streaked and looking old, and also is my boat;

I think I am the happiest person, just living the life afloat.

I'm very comfortable in my ways, with a smile upon my face;

I move sometimes around the cut, but at a steady gentle pace;

Living my life in a marina, would not be the choice for me;

I moor up my boat with nature and I know that I am free.

Shiny boater is a sad case, with an even sadder wife;

The pair of nosy parkers, who just lead a boring life;

A pair of chintz curtain twitchers, it really is a farce;

So I stick out my tongue, and sometimes moon my arse.

The Alternative Canal Laureate

Evan Keel