A SHIP IS SAFE IN THE HARBOR, BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT A SHIP WAS BUILT FOR. The song that is playing on this page is, "The Ship that never returned." It was written 20 years before the Titanic. For many years after the song was wrote, it was remembered. It was brought back and adapted for "The Old Wreck of the 97" which also happened to be the first country music hit. In the 50s it returned again as "The MIA song". The ship never returned but the song has returned twice in very big ways. Here are the words to the song: On a summer's day,when the wave was rippled,
By the softest, gentle breeze. Though they knew it not;
it was a solemn parting This page is dedicated to my hospice patients and their families. I have been so very blessed to have these wonderful people in my life and will always be grateful for them. The first time a "ship" took on special meaning for me with my hospice work was when I was talking with a white bearded gentleman. I commented on the picture of the ship that he had in his house. He replied to me, "Well, they came for me.....you know, the ship.....but I told them I couldn't go....I think next time I will tell them I can go...." When he was dying, I asked him if the ship was there and he managed to nod his head "Yes". The gentle smile on his face was his last use of his earthly muscles. I like to think he boarded his ship with a smile on his face. The next ship I encountered with a hospice patient, started when I entered the beautiful home of a dear elderly and "in tune" one who would never fail to amaze me. She had the picture of a captain of a ship up...I told her what a lovely picture it was...she told me she had always been so fond of ships. When I made a trip to the East coast, I brought her back a small ship. We talked about how our ship of life nears the horizon..and how we actually continue to "return from whence we have come". Though we may never return in the same bodies to our beloved Mother Earth, our songs linger on much as the song on this site has.
Did a ship set sail,with a cargo laden,
For a port beyond the seas.
There were sweet farewells,there were loving signals;
while a form was yet discerned.
For the ship-she never returned.
Did she ever return?
She never returned.
Her fate is yet unlearned.
Tho for years and years
there were fond ones watching
Yet the ship she never returned.
****** A special Thanks to Don,Mama Faye and Linda******
I remember Don telling me that Mama Faye would always go the last mile with him and give all that she could. We talked about how he would do the same thing with her if the shoes were reversed. Mama Faye is an angel on our Mother Earth. Linda traveled many miles from Minnesota(the land of many lakes) to Arkansas and Missouri to be with them both. She laid her personal life aside to be with those she loves so dearly. Their song, as the one on this page, will linger on for me as long as my life endures. I will look for them when the ship starts rolling my way....which ever side of the horizon they are on.