I spotted this recently, written by a friend – it has sentiments close to my heart. He set it to a rolling sea shanty ‘melody’, though I don’t have the audio.
A Sea No Longer Clean
When I was twelve I first watched
The waves roll in the bay
Now forty years on I’m much wiser the
Waves still roll on their way
Waves still roll on their way
The grains of sand remain unchanged
The seaweed still grows green
But for how many years will this be so
And will the sea be clean
And will the sea be clean
Fruits of the sea we still enjoy
The fish they still swim free
But for how many years will this be so
And will the sea be clean
And will the sea be clean
The golden beach it curves away
A close look will reveal
Plastic iron oil and waste and
The sea now not so clean
The sea now not so clean
Man has come and man will go
A visitor in time
And all he’ll leave is junk and dirt
And a sea no longer clean
And a sea no longer clean
Then one day some time away
The fish no longer swim
And where was once a beach and bay
No sea no waves come in
No sea no waves come in
So listen now people all
Don’t drop it on the shore
If we don’t change our habits now
A sea there’ll be no more
A sea there’ll be no more
(C) 2007 Phil Marks
