Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Poem: "Pull Your Ropes"

This is the freebie for the September 2011 Muse Fusion over on torn_world.  The driving rhythm is typical of working songs, which are designed to coordinate large groups.  They often play fast and loose with near-rhymes and true-rhymes, and some popular songs have many verses or versions.


Pull Your Ropes
-- a Duurludirj sea chantey


Clouds on the horizon --
Women, pull your ropes!
Now the wind is risin' --
Seamen, pull your ropes!

There's a storm a-coming --
Women, pull your ropes!
Hear the sails a-drumming --
Seamen, pull your ropes!

Batten down the hatches --
Women, pull your ropes!
Fasten all the latches --
Seamen, pull your ropes!

Rush and make her ready --
Women, pull your ropes!
We will hold her steady --
Seamen, pull your ropes!

Tags: cyberfunded creativity, fantasy, poem, poetry, reading, science fiction, torn world, writing
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  • 6 comments
kelkyag

kelkyag

September 17 2011, 07:07:32 UTC 9 years ago

It's a good sea chantey.

The women/seamen division is interesting. Are they assigned different tasks on the ship, such that they should be taking action at different times, or is that just attempting to balance modes of address? Does Torn Tongue have a non-gendered word that would work for both of those?
ysabetwordsmith

Thoughts

ysabetwordsmith

September 17 2011, 07:17:04 UTC 9 years ago

>>The women/seamen division is interesting. Are they assigned different tasks on the ship, such that they should be taking action at different times, or is that just attempting to balance modes of address?<<

Some tasks require two or more teams of people, working together but not at the same time. That division allows the chant leader to cue each team separately. In a society that doesn't divide labor strongly by gender (the Duurludirj are pretty egalitarian) there are likely to be enough people to split teams by gender. There may well be other songs with different team calls; hair color is one possibility.