S.S. Sassafras

Sixty percent airship
Almost half submarine,
Shaped more like a sausage
Than a liver or spleen.

Hung from a zeppelin
The S.S. Sassafras
Is lighter than water
With lighter-than-air gas.

To go up or go down
More or less helium
Is pumped to its balloon
Or tanks aluminium.

Sometimes it’s submerged
Under waves, foam and spray
Sometimes it is airborne
O’er the surface to sway.

It’s pulled by propellers
Flown and steered by a crew,
In water it’s pushed by
A single aft screw.

Tourists fill the hull
To peer out at the seals
And sea lions and seagulls
And socializing eels.

As the sub breaks water
Like a whale or a shark
Its guests dine and toast
Until long after dark.