The Pirate’s Tale: An Epic
Many a year ago, when the Bard was barely in his grave,
There lived a band of pirates, who sailed the savage waves.
300 soldiers they were, soldiers of the sea,
They served neither king nor queen, but toiled to be free.
There aboard Queen Bess, was dear Billy Brown
Whose smooth, pleasant face never knew how to frown.
When the ship met with a storm, Billy swayed atop the mast,
He smiled his pleasant smile and said, “Tis slightly overcast”.
When the heavens opened up and spit upon his head,
Billy smiled his pleasant smile and this is what he said,
“The sun shines at midnight. In the moon, it mirrored be,
And when it rains it pours. But it never pours at sea.”
Dear Billy Brown was the sweetest of them all,
But one mate aboard had a tongue stained with gall.
His teeth made of gold and smile filled with hate,
A golden scar upon the face of foul Two-Faced Tate.
Two-Face Tate is one you’d never want to meet,
He’d smile a smile of horror and beg you’d take a seat.
Upon the deck, he’d pull a chair and sit down in front of you,
And with a golden smile, he’d tell you what you have to do.
When he’d finally release you and let you to your tasks,
You’d hear him holler out your vices though you didnt ask.
But never mind that Tate, however golden he may be
He knows the masks behind the faces of all the creatures in the sea.
The oddest of the crew and the strangest of them all
On his legs does not walk and on his knees must he crawl.
His name is Jonathon Peter but we call him Peggy Pete,
For the lad has two arms for legs and two pegs upon his feet.
A shepherd he was born but a pirate soon was he,
When he broke his legs and on his hands, Pete crawled off to sea.
He crawled with all his might until he reached Devil’s Bay.
To the peak of that mountainous rock, he struggled to make his way,
At the edge of the mountain, his hands he tried to mend
and when he slipped on his blood, Pete thought he’d met his end.
But luck was in store for that legless shepherd from Wales,
For when he fell into the sea, he caught a glimpse of pirate sails.
Pete awoke to a splash of water, icy cold upon his face.
He found himself not with angels but with men of savage race.
Part Two
“Rise up lads!” cried one “Tis the Captain!” yelled another,
And the crew lined up portside like a band of pirate brothers.
Then all of a sudden came a silence, as silent as could be,
And even creatures underwater dared not blink or breathe.
The waves stopped their crashing and deathlike was the ship.
The sailors silenced their shivers and hushed the sins upon their lips.
Of all the pirates on Queen Bess, there was one who did not quake
“Wipe of yer smile, Billy!” one whispered, “for God Almighty’s sake!”
Clouds gathered in the heavens and a storm began to brew,
Then the cabin door creaked open and Captain Christoph met his crew.
The heavens let out a crash. A roar filled the air.
As moonlight pierced the clouds, behind the Captain’s gray stare.
A sailor scurried out behind him, grinning from ear to ear.
He kept close to the Captains’ coat tails, for the others he did fear.
Though the sailor was small, he wore a large hat on his head,
And while the Captain spoke, the sailor translated what he said.
The Captain turned aside and faced the breathless sea.
From the corner of his mouth he spoke and the pygmy quoteth he.
“I had the most curious dream,” the Captain said, “I saw Adelaine.
She was here on the ship but she was not the same.”
The pygmy let out a squeal and tried to clear his throat,
In a pitch, higher than himself, the Captain he began to quote.
“You’re all in the gutter and you’ll be headed for worse!
If you let out a stutter, your souls will be cursed!”
The Captain heaved a love-sick sigh and gazed into the night.
One could barely see his heartache under the blue moonlight.
“They told me she was lost at sea. She is missing is what they said,
But they did not look me in the eye when I asked if she was dead.
“Dead!” screeched the pygmy, “The Dead is with whom you’ll be,
If you don’t obey his wise commands and owe your service to me!”
"Till today, I had given up,” said the Captain. “I thought she was gone,
But my heart whisphers of something else. In my heart, I can hear her song."
“I mean him!” squeeked the pygmy, “If you don’t obey him,
You best wish your bones, you can float or better yet, swim!”
"We will postpone our task,” said the Captain, “we will not sail to the West.
We will continue due North and follow my heart’s forsaken Quest.”
“You must continue your duties,” said the pgymy and as polish my shoes.
You owe your lives to the Captain and it’s time to pay your dues!”
And with that, the Captain turned around and strolled away in a trance,
Behind him, the pygmy cocked his hat and scattered off with a sidelong glance.
Part Three
The cabin door shut with a bang and the sailors let out their breath
and all the creatures in the sea awakened from their deaths.
The sailors heard a rattling and glanced over to the place
where Billy shook within his boots, with a smile upon his face.
“The Captain seemed angry. We best polish his shoes,
For I’ve only this head on me shoulders and not a spare to lose.”
“He’s right!” said another, “The Captain said himself,
‘It is time to pay your dues’ or so quoted his little elf”
“Enough of your blabber,” hollered Tate as he eyed the folded sails.
“Captain says we’re headed north, with Godspeed and without fail!”
“North?” questioned Billy, as all the sailors scratched their ears.
How Tate arrived at that conclusion was a puzzle they all feared.
“You heard him lads!Tally Ho!” said one mate,
As the pirates hoisted the sails, to meet their unknown fate.
Days turned into nights and sunset came too soon.
Ere long the sun stop rising and crimson became the moon.
The sailors hardly spoke and worked without cheer
and all across the deck, spread a sense of fear.
Like butter it seeped into the boards and deep into the hull.
It put a spell on all the sailors as they drifted into a lull.
The sea came to a calm but the calm whispered “disaster”
And all the sailors felt an urge to travel faster, faster, faster!
But the wind was even dead and even so were the waves.
The sailors watched the lifeless sea and waited to be saved.
Windless nights were victims of the deep red moon.
It burned a boiling crimson, a sure sign of coming doom.
Like embers sinking into ash, the moon dipped into sea,
The sailors prayed this moonset would put them out of misery.
The seawater turned soo hot that it soon began to bubble.
Peggy Pete crawled on his arms and said “lads, here comes trouble”
Suddenly, the sailors heard a rumbling, from a volcano underwater.
The bubbles popped all around them as the sea boiled hotter and hotter.
Something crashed in the Captain’s quarters and Christoph opened his door,
“What is that noise!” he hollered as the heavens let out a roar.
The pygmy scurried behind him and the sailors looked for help,
But the Pygmy covered his face with his hat and let out a helpless yelp.
The sea was steaming and the sailors where in despair,
When an eruption blasted the sailors into the midnight air.
A fierce spout of water pushed the ship into the sky,
And all the sailors clung to the deck thinking they were going to die!
The sails turned black and red, reflecting the lava ocean.
They turned under like parachutes and the ship soared into motion.
Part Four
“What Devil’s mischief? A demon’s work indeed!”
The sailors peered over the sides and uttered heathen creeds.
The ship sailed above the lava covered sea,
As waves struggled beneath black ash, struggling to be free.
“Blasted darkness! Oh let me out!” screamed a wave
And all the pirates looked about for the thing to be saved.
But it was not a wave who hollered or any thing at that,
The sailors stared at the deck while across it slid a hat.
Tottering from side to side and rushing to and fro
The pygmy stumbled beneath his hat uttering curse after oath.
The sailors all ignored him and his muffled shrieks and wails
As the ship rose further into the air carried on crimson sails.
Except for the pygmy, who was still quite alarmed,
the sailors stood by silently, as though under a charm.
The ship drifted above the water and the lava was all but gone.
The sea returned to a royal blue but the war was not yet won.
Slowly, a sound grew in the distance like a symphony
And all the pirates faced north and peered into the sea.
But the night was turning dark as death and the sea as black as bile,
And no one could see ahead not even for one nautical mile.
A cry echoed like a sleeper in a bad dream.
Captain Cristoph quietly mused, “of all the mysteries I have seen…”
The Captain’s eyes glazed over and he stood as though entranced.
The sailors were shocked to bits when the Captain began to dance.
In the dark, he swayed a rhythmic waltz and made a charming plea.
“My dearest, I thought you’de left! Darling, come and dance with me”
Peggy Pete kicked the pygmy’s hat and the sailor came rolling out
“It’s about blooming time!” he hollered, with his squeaky shout.
He stopped behind Christoph and eyed him from the floor.
The sight filled him with terror and chilled him to the core.
“The man’s gone mad!” the Pgymy fearfully said.
While he watched his Captain Christoph dance with the living dead.
Though none of the sailors saw the maiden he addressed,
They knew they were on the Captain’s deadly quest.
Part Five
The ship flew further into the great black expanse.
as waves beat an eerie tune to the Captain’s ghostly dance.
Above the crashing waves, a voice pierced the sky.
Twas a haunting tune on a salty wind. A whale of a cry.
Was it Adelaine? The Captain’s mistress from the grave?
Would she lead the pirates to their deaths? Or could she, would she save
The ship which floated onward carrying the crew to unknown fates.
Peggy Pete looked at his Captain and hollered, “now listen here mates!”
“This black fog is thick and vile and for your brothers and Captain’s sake,
We must land this airbound ship. The sea is ours to take!”
But while his clear voice spoke, the sea appeared to rise.
An island rose from beneath the waves before the sailors eyes.
Silver lightening flickered and revealed a monsterous whale,
Whose body was like an island from nose to silver tail.
The pygmy shivered violently and clung to the mast
As the Captain spread out his arms and cried, “Adelaine at last!”
Onto the back of the living island, the pirate ship was swept.
The sailors prayed for salvation and their souls shivered and wept.
A hush came over the crew, even the Captain who had gone insane
And each could hear his heart, pounding blood through his veins.
Breaking the dead silence, a voice sang from its grave,
Not from the lips of Adelaine but from the whale beneath the waves.
The giant moaned beneath the ship and let out a sonorous cry
As it lifted itself above the waves and rose twenty stories high.
The giant let out a booming roar and Queen Bess shook and rumbled.
Peggy Pete tripped over his wooden legs and into the pygmy, he tumbled.
And with a fierce spout of water nearly thirty feet high, Queen Bess shot like a cannonball into the starry sky.
The sails flapped violently and the timbers shook and shivered
Poor Billy Brown clung to the mast, his bottom lip, a ‘quiver.
“Hold onto yer knickers lads!” hollered one, while downward, the ship fell.
The sailors uttered their last pleas as they plummeted towards hell.
With a great crash, they landed and the ocean rose all around
the ship, which pressed against the surface with a dangerous sound.
The giant whale, a fluster, slapped his tail from ten miles off,
and then disappeared below the waves from crest to deadly trough.
Ravenous waves chased Queen Bess and bit into her heels.
Pete hoisted himself onto his pegs and got behind the wheel.
“Below deck now boys!” he hollered, as the sailors ran to their chores. Queen Bess grew wooden legs as the sailors let out thier oars.
The sails billowed out thier white wings as the ship traveled full pace.
While down below the crew rowed, determined to win this race.
Billy Brown climbed the mast as the sailors drove into the sea.
He shielded his eyes from the salty wind until finally he could see.
The ship was traveling as fast as light and the sailors were in reverie
and far from the dangerous waves Queen Bess managed to flee.
But there was one mate aboard, whose mouth had turned down,
It was upon that lovely face, in a terrified state, of our own dear Billy Brown.
“Land,” he whispered, as though at first in doubt.
“Land… Land Ho!” he hollered as loud as he could shout.
But the sailors could not hear him while below they rejoiced with glee
As they rode even faster upon the strong back of Victory.
Straight toward that land, which was coming closer by the second, Queen Bess faced the dark swaying trees, which from the shore seemed to beckon.
Billy slid down the mast to warn his fellow mates
That they must slow down their pace or else meet a crashing fate.
“Land!” he hollered, pointing straight ahead
and all the sailors fell silent as their hearts filled with dread.
“Pull in the oars!” ordered Pete, “tell the men to stop rowing.”
They would surely crash into the land, as fast as they were going.
Queen Bess tucked in her legs and her bow tipped toward the sky
As her sails fought against the wind to save the sailors lives.
Slowly the ship approached the island, which watched as they arrived.
The sailors wiped thier brows and blessed the heavens that they survived.
The mates looked about the deck and then at each other.
They helped the fallen to their feet and cleaned the salt off one another.
By the stern, the Captain had fallen and was curled upon the ground.
The sailors tried to wake him but he did not make a sound.
The pygmy went to his unconscious Captain and beheld him with his eyes.
A look of delight glowed within him that his hat could not disguise.
Behind the Captain’s coat tail, or beneath his hat that was too large,
He no longer had to hide in vain, for now he was in charge.
“Bring down the anchor!” the pygmy screeched. His hands upon his hips.
He screamed order after order, the taste of power on his lips.
The sailors released the anchor and lowered sailboats filled with men,
And they crept toward the island, as though approaching a lions den.
Part Six
The crew crept onto the shore and dragged their boats onto the sand.
Looking up, they saw the looming trees which shaded the sleeping land.
The sand beneath their feet, still warm from the hot afternoon,
And one by one the sailors fell beneath the missing moon.
The sand was inviting and as cozy as a bed.
It cradled the 300 sailors and all their sleepy heads.
The stars looked down upon them as they slowly closed their eyes.
While the rustling leaves gently hummed some unknown lullaby.
Peggy Pete stretched out his arms and woke to a touch on his face.
When he looked about him, he thought aloud, “what is this lovely place?”
He was in a warm hut and surrounded by women in gold.
They were the loveliest creatures Pete could ever wish to behold.
Black silken hair laced down their backs and gold was on their lips.
Pete met the nut brown eyes of one, who reached out her fingertips.
She sneaked a smile and gently brushed the sand off his legs,
And all the other women giggled at the curious, wooden pegs.
Pete lifted himself up and looked all around him.
The sight was so unbelievable that it quite frankly, spell- bound him.
The hut was not built with straw but rather, with threads of gold.
The women were dressed with rubies and with diamonds tenfold.
Pete was eyeing the sapphires, which dripped from one woman’s ears
When he heard a familiar voice. In the next hut, he could hear,
“I’m the captain, you know, of that grand ship that just came in.”
Pete heard the pygmy chuckle and could almost see him grin.
He gingerly stepped out of the hut and thanked the women around him
And wondered where the true Captain was and what dear soul found him.
At the pygmy’s hut, at least twenty women were lined up,
All holding trays of fruits and sweets and hot tea in golden cups.
Pete tottered upon his pegs and beheld a sight to see.
300 huts in a lush forest, glistened beneath swaying trees.
Meanwhile, in a hut not too far off, Captain Christoph was still asleep.
Dreaming of his lost Adelaine, within the fury of the deep.
A warm hand fell upon him, while in his dreams he wept.
She wiped the tears from his cheeks and held him as he slept.
For one week, the sailors stayed and drank all the women’s tea.
They splashed about in the pristine waters and dreaded the return to sea.
There was one girl in the village, who spoke the sailor’s tongue.
And on one night around the fire, a telling song, she sung.
She sang of how the women came to that Isle of the looming trees.
They were brought there by a slave ship, carried on a summer breeze.
The slave masters brought them from a land of infinite gold.
They were tied in chains upon the ship and were bartered and sold.
But fate intervened with the slave owner’s sinister plans,
As rough waters crashed the ship into what soon became their land.
The men all perished from that unfortunate nautical disaster,
But now all the women were equal and every one of them was master.
They lived off the land and ate the fruits off the trees.
They bathed in crystal waters and lived they way they pleased.
Oftentimes they saw Pirate ships sailing the horizon in the distance,
But the waves always overcame them and the ships gave no resistance.
To the shore, golden coins would travel, carried in by the high tide
And the pirate treasures would be left for the island women to find.
And so the women built their huts and were protected by the trees.
They made the land their own and lived together in peace.
There was one curious incident, which happened, not long ago.
A new traveler managed to land on their distant and humble abode.
She was captured by pirates of the most savage kind
And on her way to the Indies, a thought came across her mind.
All the pirates sang and grumbled on the deck in their drunken state,
The night she threw herself into the ocean and in the dark, she escaped.
She swam for as long as she could and on her back she would float,
As the waves lifted her high up and carried the little lady boat.
Then one island morning beneath the trees shady cover,
The women found the lost lady clutching a portrait of her lover.
They took her in and kept her as one of their own
And she too became a queen with her own golden throne.
The sailors let out a sigh as the girl’s song came to a close.
Tate was the only one who saw the pygmy’s frightened pose.
In his hut, the pygmy shivered, thinking of the song to which he listened
And in fear, he wiped away the sweat, which on his forehead glistened.
The very next morning, from his hut, the pygmy emerged.
He announced they would be leaving, on a sudden but pressing urge.
He gathered all the sailors round and on his hips placed his hands,
And they listened in shock, to his ludicrous commands.
“Get all that you can carry lads and strip the huts of their riches.
We’re headed back to the ship boys and leaving these beguiling witches!”
“But sir! The women have been so kind” said Billy with a frown as spoke.
But he knew the pygmy was certain and on his tears he started to choke.
“Listen here,” said the pygmy, his voice turning into a growl,
“I’m your Captain now boy,” his face burst into a scowl.
Then from the crowd of sailors, one mate stepped out.
It was he who knew the faces of all the men that were about.
He turned to the 300 and said, “we’ll follow him to the ends of earth
for our Captain is a man of honor and he deserves our life’s worth.”
Two-Faced Tate bent his knee and looked the pygmy in the eye,
“Now little sailor,” he said, “Tis your time to die.”
The pygmy let out a squeal and his hat leapt a great height,
As he grabbed an arm full of treasures and ran with all his might.
The sailors chased him to the shore, where the pygmy jumped into a boat,
And rowed with all his strength, with a shriek deep in his throat.
He reached the giant ship and shimmed up the ropes.
He beheld his crew upon the shore and the sight lifted his hopes.
“So long ye blasted pirates!” He said in a high pitched squeal,
As he ran across the deck, toward the wooden wheel.
But alas, he was too tiny to turn the wheel or shift the sails,
And after exerting a great effort, he let out his desperate wail.
The sailors laughed upon the shore at the pygmy who aimed above his reach,
As they strolled back into the forest and away from the golden beach.
Meanwhile, in a hut not too far off, the Captain began to stir.
He blinked and opened his eyes and gazed wide-eyed at her.
She looked down upon him at the Captain in her arms.
The woman kept him safe and warm and far away from harm.
“Adelaine,” he whispered, “could it really be?”
The Captain beheld his lost love, for it was truly she.
Part Seven
To Christoph and his new wife, the crew said goodbye.
The women kissed them as they left with golden tears in their eyes.
The men left the shore, as they climbed aboard the ship.
Billy Brown sadly waved with a kiss still on his lips.
The pygmy scrubbed the dirty deck, not bothering to wave goodbye.
He grumbled to himself that “he would get them all next time.”
On board, the sailors tipped their hats and raised a salute to greet
The new Captain of Queen Bess, none other than Peggy Pete.
“Where to now, Captain?” said one sailor,
“whither shall we roam?”
“Why lads, where real treasure is,” said Pete,
“In the warmth of our homes!”
The End.
