I sing a song of sixpence
With my pockets full of rye
Four and twenty pirate ships
All sailing in a line.

I shall bet thou a sixpence,
Or maybe even more,
As thou knowest, after tonight
Thou shalt not need it anymore.

I'll pay a penny for their thoughts
A piece of eight for thine,
And I shall bet, my dearest friend,
They'll raid our town so fine.

Take thy sticks and take thy spears,
And hide those men of aging years.
Lock up thy children and thy wives,
It's likely that we'll lose our lives.

Prepare thyselves for the worst
When bridges burn and dams do burst.
Thine unseen form will watch the plunder
As our village burns while torn asunder.

How, O Lord, do we fend this off
When all we have is a weakened cough?
If thee shall scale the village walls
We shalt be dead by the time thee falls.

Pray to the Lord; the Father above
Kiss thy children and give them love.
Bow down now and kiss the soil
Where once were crops now blood will boil.

We see them now and they dock their ships
And we'll be put in chains and whipped.
They will bring the cat-o-nine
And flay the flesh from this back of mine.

Icy shards of dripping rain
Shall make advantage hard to gain.
Beneath our feet lies muddy silt
Aye, I feel the courage wilt.

And here they come now up the beach
They will soon be in our reach.
Put down thy spears, give up thy daughter
Maybe they will give us quarter.

For they shall have our beds tonight
Our wives are theirs just for one night
Welcome to our lands, we'll say
Have her once, then go away.

We've survived a hounding once before
When Kings' Guard knocked down our door.
Ye and ye get out the wine
To welcome pirates to our town so fine.

Please be good and please don't worry
As they approach through mud and slurry.
I see their swords shine in the light
Please, O Lord, just one more night.

This is it boys; our only chance
Open thy arms or start thy war dance.
Their eyes stared forward in darkened sable
Hands clutched the spears as best as able.

Here they come in droves aplenty
Maybe ten or maybe twenty.
As they drew closer I saw their swords
But as of yet there were no words.

Clad in assortments of different leather
The pirates approached through patches of heather.
At the front of the pack stalked a woman in scarlet
Surely she must have beest a harlot.

Nay, she said. I am not such.
Watch thy tongue; I don't like thee much.
Over her shoulder I saw the black flag
Die with the wind and begin to sag.

Please have mercy in a town of so few
We may be landlubbers but ye have thy deep blue.
If it's money ye want then we'll gladly give.
Here is six pence if it will help us to live.

I held out the coins to the woman in red
They clinked in my palm and here's what she said.
Keep thy coins, for they are so few
We merely need a rest from our deep blue.

O Lord, our saviour, they just need a rest
Take them to taverns where ale is best
They may cause trouble, and start a fight
But please don't stop them; we'll live one more night.

Across the table with a look that was dour
The woman in red then asked for the hour.
Well, I said, it's a quarter past one
Why, good Captain? Aren't ye having any fun?

I am no captain, but I am First Mate.
I wanted to know, as the hour felt late.
Oh, I said, and gave her a grin
So would knowing thy name constitute as a sin?

It was a long while before she replied
Get another ale and I'll tell thee, she sighed.
So I got her another and sat down her drink
And for a while she seemed to think.

Like I have said, not Captain; First Mate
My name is Lily and thy town I shall take.
Her lips were a smirk; she thought it a lark
That she and her men would take a town in the dark.

O Dear Lord, how can this be?
We offered our service and our ale to thee!
Don't worry, young man, thy life we will spare.
But the rest of the town will suffer despair.

Their homes we will raid and then set alight
We'll pilfer and plunder, and have fun all night.
But if ye call out and ruin my plan
I'll cut off thy parts; you'll not be a man.

Threatening me with a bone-handled knife
That First Mate made sure that I feared for my life.
Holding my breath and holding it tight
I knew I would never forget this night.

Then she advanced and I backed up so fast
But the man behind me was built like a mast
Solid and sturdy he would not give way
So I had to listen, to what First Mate would say.

Clutching her knife; I did not want this
But I was surprised when she gave me a kiss
Listen up good and listen to me
Thou shalt makest a good pirate, little Marty.

She gave me a smirk and ruffled my hair
Before whisking me outside in the cold salty air
Thick with the stench of acrid black smoke
She led me to the ship; this was not a joke.

As we walked I watched pirates raid
With no one to come to our little town's aid.
When they were done not a woman was spared
Raped in their homes and nobody cared.

Money was stolen and houses were burned
A lesson, she said, is what I had learned.
About the life of a pirate and the life of the sea
And she said proudly, one day that shall be thee.

As I watched, tears stung at my eyes
But then once again, once more a surprise.
In a moment of kindness she offered her breast
And let me cry for my home on her scarlet chest.


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One of my pirate-related poems based around my roleplay character First Mate Lily,

wow!

One of my longer ones.