U.S.S. OKLAHOMA RETURNS TO HER CREW

We did not recognize her as she sank among us here, A wretched hulk, dismasted, disemboweled and stripped of gear. We did not recognize her. They were selling her for junk When she listed like a derelict, abandoned, wrecked, and sunk. For we were sea-dead sailors wandering aimlessly the deep, Without a ship, without a bunk, without a place to sleep, For we were sea-dead sailors of a ship that killed us all When she rolled her weight upon us as the bombs began to fall. We loved that ship. Her lines were trim, her speed was fleet and free, And when she joined maneuvers she was beautiful to see. That morning when torpodoes struck, with water, oil and blood She swiftly filled and overturned her masthead in the mud. How long we lived, how long lay dead within her flooded sides Till all awakened, spirit-drifted, ebbing with the tides! Oh, some were brave but could not save the other, some afraid, And all upon a hillside we were later, gently laid. We did not recognize her, for the ship we loved so well Had died with us that morning in the harbor’s flaming Hell, And our remembrance was not this, a scrapped and broken hull That came among us timid as a shy and lonely gull. We turned our backs upon her; she was not of our command, But suddenly a seaman with a flashlight in his hand Began to signal frantically. We turned and somehow knew She was the Oklahoma and she knew we were her crew. We wept, we cried, we swarmed aboard, we kissed her weary decks, We made a thousand seaweed leis and hung them round our necks. We danced, we laughed; our salted eyes flowed tears without relief, For it was good to know at last the end of all her grief. We built a superstructure, casemates, turrets, funnel, jack. We fitted out compartments and we put the galley back. We mustered on the quarterdeck and bowed our heads in thanks, And mourned for those, our shipmates, who were missing from the ranks. We stationed watch and quarters and we stowed our gear below. We manned the bridge and sea-details, and rode the undertow. Some evening in the sunset of a bright and happy day We’ll come steaming through the Golden Gate for San Francisco Bay!