a sailor went to sea sea sea

(to begin, a hand clapping song from my youth ---)

a sailor went to sea sea sea
to see what he could see see see
but all that he could see see see
was the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea

it's come to my attention - the span of which is remarkably short these days -
that
there are few, if any, sailors to be found (anymore) in the great port city of San Francisco.

photo from foundsf.org

when i was a kid growing up in San Francisco -
it was commonplace to see (male) sailors walking up, down and around the streets of the City by the Bay, particularly in the North Beach/ Chinatown/ Nob Hill / Downtown sections of town, which were my hang out neighborhoods.

sailors, dressed in their tidy navy 'dress blues', trimmed in white stripes and stars. my favorite part of the uniform, other than the deep navy color and distinctive wide legged bell bottom pants - were the collars, on which always appeared three very distinct vertical creases pressed at evenly spaced intervals across the back collar flap.
the creases were ironed in 'just so'.

sailors wore jaunty sailor caps in the brightest white.
and highly polished black sailor shoes. i thought they were pretty darn cute.

but one doesn't see much of sailors and their dress blues anymore.
military uniforms change over time and so do the regulations regarding them.

in addition, the port of San Francisco no longer serves as a destination for navy vessels.
sailors are rare these days on the streets of The City.

unless it is Fleet Week.

i miss sailors who went to sea sea sea 
and docked
in San Francisco 
to see see see
the sights
of the big city by the bay
before heading back out to
sea sea sea.