The Honor of Pirates

I have sailed the Sea of Rogues.

I was chattel, prisoner, booty.

Restricted from the ocean’s beauty,

My fear a weighty hurricane drogue.

Desperately seeking a way to live free,

One bitter soul and myself we did flee.

Righteous men barred us safe passage on ships,

So as renegade stowaways below decks we hid.

Now that we two,

Had made bold to be bad,

We learned that as Pirates,

Honor we had.

In our bloody career,

That ensued on the Sea,

We prayed between battles,

To the Trinity.

We venerated the Father,

His Son, Holy Ghost,

We respectfully accepted,

The taste of the Host.

But told by grey priests,

God considered us lost,

We ceased to pray,

Or make sign of the cross.

We commandeered by force,

A battered old ship,

Criminals we were,

Sailors’ weapons we stripped.

We berthed with mutineers,

Despite the steep cost,

And exulted as renegades,

Drunken, storm-tossed.

We traveled sans compass,

The sextant our friend,

Lost sight of the moon,

In howling gales without end.

Finally, dismasted,

Our schooner,

She broached.

Two scarred, half-drowned mates,

Barely reached the lifeboat.

Merciful winds blew us,

Battered survivors,

To Porinetia Farani,

The mythical islands.

Exotic Polynesia,

Blue water, clear skies,

Where even the lands,

In a triangle lie.

In the wake of the tempest,

We wept on our knees,

Gave thanks to Poseidon,

For this gift, this reprieve.

Seabound oasis,

Foreign souls without fear,

We were gifted with flowers,

By men holding spears.

Women’s round bodies,

Breasts bared without shame,

Divested us slowly,

Of fear of man’s blame.

Shy daughters of Eve,

Gentled shipwrecked madmen,

With music, and sweet fruit,

And New Zealand wrens.

These people befriended us,

Bequeathed us new names,

We ceased blaming, blaspheming,

As warm winds eased pain.

We forgot our old wounds,

As we fathered brown sons,

And marveled at daughters,

Who sang in the sun.

The singing of sirens,

The sea, and sweet rum,

The incredible boon,

Of the trust of the young,

Have made these crazed pirates,

Honorable ones.

Paula Lyons, MD

5/4/2018