Captain Paul Watson

"Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only, Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee and thou with me, For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go, And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all."

- Walt Whitman

It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or when the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt

On the day that I was knighted by the divine gale, I knew that in my battles I could not fail, Nor could I, or my crew, be hurt or fall. Magic yes, that was the call, A truth felt in the deep depths of my soul, True, only if I keep true to my role.

The power was once so much stronger, Will it hold true for very much longer? Findings paths where trails don’t exist Engaging foes in the storms and the mist, Draped in a cloak of flowing mystery, Allowing me to weave myth with history.

Shepherd avenger on the storm tossed wave, So many species, so many lives to save, A madness of directed obsession, Into the wind I scream my confession. They know not what they do the fools, I know I can stop them, if given the tools.

A fair ship and a brave crew, Although good crew are so relatively few The obstacles increasingly grow Yet the power continues to flow, And as it does, I must act at will, Or all that I love they will surely kill

Within the dark confines of my inner being It is from there that I perfected the art of seeing, Seeing is treason to humanity For what is revealed is mass insanity Thus all rules are broken in this quest, No more must I regret or confess.

FEATURED POEM

Fighting the Killer Angels

Crashing blind through the storm-winds, cursing and cruising mad through the ice

Frozen stiff in the ice pack, our steel hull clutched in a crystalline vice

Featureless, formless, forsaken, unable to launch a flight

As the wind makes eerie music around icebergs glittering white.

Teased with the threat of failure, glimpsing the pit of despair,

Unable to find the killers, we may not have a prayer,

We search for the slime of humankind, the scum of a decent world

We are lost in a vastness upon which all our hopes have been hurled.

I hear the great whales screaming, their moans assault my mind.

With all my heart I dearly dream of their vicious killers to find.

How much more of the world's hottest blood must be poured into the sea

Pardon me for being so gentle with such vicious beasts as these,

If I could, I would dismay them, frightening them with my gloom.

One by one, I would betray them to their deserved and bloody doom.

I would if I could, drown them and toss their bodies into the deep,

Poison the blood in their evil veins and drive them to defeat.

The Bible says the weak will inherit the Earth. What a devious trick?

Who ever wrote that drivel failed to see how a whaler's heart does tick.

Blackest organ, rotting with evil through and through, seeping stinking pus

A whalers heart is the hardest heart, a monstrous thing to cuss.

I want to burst with my anger upon them, searing forever their sight,

And drive them like the cowards they are whimpering into the night.

To restore the seas to the gentle whales leaving them free to roam

To never again see the oceans whipped into a bloody foam

What a piece of work is man, self proclaimed as angels divine

Conceited naked ignorant apes, legends in our own mind,

If we be angels then killer angels is what we really are,

And if I could, I would drive them from the seas afar.

Sometimes the anger within my heart blazes forth in raging flame

I control my rage and stifle my deep intense and utter shame,

To be a member of such a race that kills with such eager pleasure,

Is sometimes to much for my mind to understand and measure.

I would if I could bring peace and harmony to the world aquatic,

And destroy all those who would destroy all that is aquatically exotic,

But the world of humans is a world that is violently chaotic

I cannot help thinking that my species is hopelessly psychotic

But if we cannot save the whales we will fail to save the seas

And if we cannot save the seas than there is no future for anyone you see.

And so most watch our species commit global suicide

And turn their backs and surrender to the blackest of selfish tides.

But some, a few, so very few of us, continue to fight against almost certain doom

Passion motivated by compassion gives us strength to fight the gloom

And so we struggle against all odds with support from very few sources

Against an enemy with ruthless power, money, technology and resources

There are vast profits to be made from raping, looting and plundering the sea and land

And little motivation to oppose the killer angels as they smote down life so grand

So we must never surrender to these horrible beasts who would snatch the very sun for gold

With all our hearts and minds and souls we must resist and shatter the anthropocentric mold.

I fight for fish, for turtles, coral, oysters birds, and whales.

Others fight for wolves, trees, kangaroos and snails,

What I know is that we need everyone who cares and loves nature to join our ranks

We need an army of the compassionate to give this world our thanks.

With two ships we search the seas in a quest to stop a dark and evil fleet,

If I could, I would pull their harpoons from their decks and knock them off their feet.

Oh gentle loving giants with minds like swimming Buddha's, forgive me for being violent,

Unlike you I am a killer angel like those we try to stop, and so I can't be silent.

I fear someday I won't be able to control the passions deep inside me,

A deep blue rage that wants to surface like a mighty leviathan inside me.

For if ever that day does arise when I can fight no more,

Many a ship will be sunk before I return to shore.