The Tarry Buccaneer

I'm going to be a pirate with a bright brass pivot-gun,

And an island in the Spanish Main beyond the setting sun,

And a silver flagon full of red wine to drink when work is done,

Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer.

With a sandy creek to careen in, and a pig-tailed Spanish mate,

And under my main-hatches a sparkling merry freight

Of doubloons and double moidores and pieces of eight,

Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer.

With a taste for Spanish wine-shops and for spending my doubloons,

And a crew of swart mulattoes and black-eyed octoroons,

And a thoughtful way with mutineers of making them maroons,

Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer.

With a sash of crimson velvet and a diamond-hiked sword,

And a silver whistle about my neck secured to a golden cord,

And a habit of taking captives and walking them along a board,

Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer.

With a spy-glass tucked beneath my arm and a cocked hat cocked askew,

And a long low rakish schooner a-cutting of the waves in two,

And a flag of skull and cross-bones the wickedest that ever flew,

Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer.

From SALT-WATER POEMS AND BALLADS, edited by John Masefield, published by The Macmillan Company, New York, US, © 1921, pp 62-63.The header graphic is titled "The Buccaneer" from HISTOIRE DES PIRATES by P. Christian, engraved by Huart, 1852 by Alexandre Debelle.Charley Noble