You asked for it, here is something from my real life.

Untitled
(Kendall Morse)

Each day I hear the Siren's call
To go back out on the bay,
I "Swallowed the anchor" years ago for a job with better pay.

In the autumn of my life the lure of the sea is strong,
But, I'm stuck on shore with my time passing by,
And I'm not where I belong.
refrain
And I tell myself, "It's an old man's dream,
Your youth is past and gone,
And that ocean rolls as it always has
It doesn't care that I'm long gone".

After years of struggle to take my pay from the sea
I went ashore and never looked back, that bitch would never kill me.
Through fog and rain and pitch black nights I answered the call of the sea,
But, she stole my youth, now, I face the truth,
The land is no place for me.

repeat refrain

But, fighting the sea is a young man's game,
Too much for an old fool like me,
But, by God I'd rather die on my feet than to end my days on my knees.
I tied the boat up long ago and turned my back on the sea,
It just didn't pay out there on the bay, I needed more for the kids and me.
Too many winters in a drafty old boat made me old before my time,
I worked day and night but with a wife and kids,
I couldn't save a dime.

Driven by duty I left that life for a better job on shore,
I raised the kids and left the wife and walked right out the door.
Now the kids are grown and on their own,
My duty to them is met, in the Autumn of my days I stand and gaze
At the ocean til I'm cold and wet.

repeat refrain

I think of a Viking funeral, the dead in his own long ship,
They set it afire, then set it adrift with a dog at the warrior's feet.
That's how I'd go if I had my way, to sail the great beyond,
But, it never can be because, you see, there are too may laws in this nation,
They would never allow such a funeral now, 'twould be a hazard to navigation.

I've never bothered to edit or worry about how it scans.