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PIRATES, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Pirates, after all, were usually
Last Line: At twenty-one or so!
Alternate Author Name(s): Beston, Henry, Mrs.
Subject(s): Pirates; Piracy; Buccaneers


Pirates, after all, were usually
Such young men!
At yard-arms or docks they hanged them,
Or on beaches now and then.
So between the prayers of parsons
At the gallows-tree
In their ears came softly lisping
The whisper of the sea,

Their own sea of sails and fighting,
Of storm and wound,
Scattered with uncharted beaches
For the men that they marooned;
Spanish towns with plate and treasure;
Jungle; fever; heat;
And the clicking of the glasses
In some safe retreat.

In that school a man grew crafty,
Limber in his hates.
Their white scars were often left them
By their bosom mates.
What extraordinary stories
That no one now can know
Died upon those wind-blown gallows
At twenty-one or so!





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