This poem comes from Autumn Leaves:

Standing by the seaside

One cold, wet, dreary day,

Longing for some warmth and sun,

My thoughts just slipped away.

There on a sleek, white schooner,

Under a blustery sky,

The wind billowed full her majestic sails,

Causing her rigging to  sigh.

Dark clouds on the horizon

Signaled an on-coming gale.

With canvas shortened and shoulders bared,

She slashed through the rising swell.

Hands clenched tightly, knuckles white,

As she tacks before the wind,

Then relax once more as she gathers

And rights herself again.

Her deck sways gently beneath me now,

Slipping through the warm Gulf Stream,

Able to dance over white cap and calm–

She’s truly an ocean queen.

Streamlined bodies of Neptune

Frolic in playful behavior

As clean, cold spray stings my face

And nostrils inhale the salty savor.

Over on the port side, an island appears to sight,

Lingering in quiet beauty of early morning light.

I spy a sun-browned body, climbing a stately palm

To gather nature’s bounty–ah, what soothing balm!

“Stop dreaming!” my conscious mind shouts at me,

Invading solitude sublime,

But a tiny voice deep inside answers,

“It’s solace for a work-weary mind.”

It seeks to escape harsh reality,

To regain balance on its beam,

And like a ship without a rudder,

So is man without his dream.