(based on an old Spanish ballad)
On a summer’s day, upon a headland high
Young courageous Count Arnaldos happened, riding by,
To see a noble galleon beneath him in the bay,
Her sail of silk was taut aloft, and yet the galleon stayed
And on her deck a sailor, his smock of woven silk
Skin of golden parchment, hair as white as milk
Sang a bright enchantment, ballad of the seas
And all his incantations hypnotized and pleased
Charmed the Count Arnaldos, which made him pull the reins,
Manifold the melodies, ornament and plain,
All of them as memories of something heard before
Like echoes of a rolling surf breaking on a shore
Echoes of a summer wind plangent in a meadow
Winter gales above the hills, cavernous and hollow
Dreams of songs forgotten in shadows of the dawn
Lullabies of babyhood, belovéd still but gone
And as the sailor chanted, the pitching sea around
Began to mount beside the ship and form into a crown
And every ranging ocean bird circled round this hill
Of marvelous enchanted sea submissive to his will
And as the sailor chanted, the dolphins rose and spread
Their flanks of bright electrum and shook their bullish heads
And whales that slapped their brawny flukes exposed their sides to him,
He sang the birds that scout the seas, and everything that swims
Westward came the sweetest scents, as if at his command,
Rose and blooming lavender, perfumes of the land
So that the Count Arnaldos loved but could not see
The country of the far away, the song of what could be
Come teach me, called Arnaldos, the melody you sing
And I will bring you treasure, a phoenix on the wing,
A casket made of glass and gold, within a diamond crown,
A hawk with golden talons, a splendid hunting hound
Teach me what you sing, he called, and there will be reward,
This horse I ride, my cape of gold, my dagger and my sword,
Teach me what you sing, he cried, and there will be reward –
No, the sailor said to him, first you must come aboard
You must come aboard, young man, sail this ship with me,
Although I seem a common man, not of nobility,
Although I am a sailor I sing of paradise
And none may learn these melodies unless they pay the price
You may not learn to sing with me unless you board and sail
Across the sea of oceans, to find what never fails,
Across the rolling oceans until your hair turns white
And that will be just long enough to reach the end of night