The Minstrels' Song was meant to greet our old friends in Australia, although Comex – apart from a few individuals - never made it there. The Sir Lancelot had carried Comex 4 as far as Malaysia, and that was generous enough; to have pushed the boat out further with a request to sail on to Australia and New Zealand would not have been a good idea. So the Minstrels' Song had to suffice; and of course there is as much adventure in singing a song, if one has never sung in public before, as in climbing a mountain – or crossing an ocean!  The Minstrels' Song is a modest offering to Australia from the wardroom of the Sir Galahad en route to Calcutta from Singapore.

An impromptu Comex concert

Come minstrel sing a happy song, a song for every day;

Let your voice rise bold and clear,

Evoke goodwill, arouse good cheer and wing them far away.

Mix wisdom with a merry wit, let memory rest awhile,

Pitch the moral far ahead among the living not the dead,

Our willing hearts beguile.

Chorus

As quickly does tomorrow come to drive away today,

Fears and doubts and misery belong to yesterday,

So dreamers dream your wondrous dreams

Take heed of what I say:

A life well lived forever is no more than just today.

The moral of this thought is not original or mine;

Let’s take a cup of kindness for the sake of auld lang syne.

Minstrel, ponder well this point; A seed once sown must grow,

So raise your harp and pluck a string

Release your voice and let it sing a theme of long ago.

Don’t let this moment pass unsung, it warrants true your praise;

The summèd total of such things

As beggars, sinners, saints and kings leads us to better days.

Chorus