A captain's daughter's Naval Salute...

Born as my father crossed Equator

And cradled in the Naval Honor later

By Uncle Slava -- an admiral in the Soviet Pacific Fleet

(Who’d have quick feet when we’d escape a bear --

Kamchatka always had a touch of dangerous affair)

And Uncle Vlad -- an admiral of Baltic realms

(Whose stories dove into the ancient helms)

And Grandpa Vasya, just a silly Neptune in Crimea

(Yes, yes, he was that clown dressing up for you, Black Sea vacationers)

With me as mermaid at his call all day and night, as it would fall)

His mission was to welcome all and make them happy

That meant the mermaid could unclip her tail when Alushta beaches were, alas,

to 0 guests all-empty

Deep into the night, we knew each star

And stories of Captain Cook and Charles Clerke were not, all of a sudden, so far

A part of Royal Navy in the 1700s, they were a part of me in 1980s

The voyages they took I knew by heart

The lengthy copies of their maps I could recite

A captain’s daughter, through and through

The waves, the winds, the oceans, the names of our Russian and British sailors,

of all centuries, even –

That I knew

The sea wolf at my core, I was a part of legends, but I craved for more

And Romanovs I did meet through kino

The moviemaking took me to unique new shore

And in honor of integrity, respect, and fairness in Naval Honor Concept

Prince Philip, I salute You… Rest in Peace…

You’ve been in Naval stories constant

You know well we took great care of the grave of Charles Clerke

Because you visited Kamchatka and had some tea at Fox’s York

What happened to James Cook Kamchatka found out first

And the sad news connected our nations out of guilty thirst

To sail the waters alongside and not cause too much fright

To so many lands we’d hurt in the past in voyages in color white

We turned the page together to start respecting nations and traditions

And to embrace – or try – through peaceful expeditions