This is one from Sally Rogers that I've always liked but never dared sing:

OLD FATHER FALL

(By Sally Rogers ©1975
Recorded on IN THE CIRCLE OF THE SUN
Thrushwood Records #2, © 1982)

Old Father Fall
Rusty and weathered
Summertime's beggar in patchwork and pins;
Brisk autumn seas,
Seagulls' companion,
Rushing white lion,
After pebbles and fins.

Chorus:

And I wonder what happens
To summer boats on the ocean,
And their dry-docked old captains
With salty gray beards;
To choices and voices,
On those scrubbed teaky timbers,
Polished brass, tarnished memories,
Of love lost and won.

The sea claimed his soul
And his soul was the ocean,
Never slowing or stopping
For those on the shore;
And his life was a dream,
Carried by mainsails,
And was drowned in those same sails
In the fall of a dream. (CHO)

And now he's alone,
A grounded old captain,
Without crew, sails or sextant
to show him the way;
And they've left him alone
With his wants and his need-be's
He just wanted to be free
Of family and fear. (CHO)

Charley Noble