She Walks The Deck At Midnight

[Blackbead]

She Walks the Deck at Midnight

Gather around me, ye brave seadogs,

And I’ll tell ye a tale of the sea,

Believe what ye will when I’m finished

But remember that no tale is free.

Twenty years ago I was a pirate,

Aboard the Sabre, a swift, deadly ship.

We were out of Port Royal, Jamaica,

Raiding the Main on that particular trip.

I was hard at work in the galley,

Cuttin’ bits from a big bacon slab,

When I heard the older men talking,

And I caught a bit of their gab.

“By gar, ye all be superstitious,

I care not what any of ye say

I see your crosses and amulets and medallions

And your wren’s feathers from last New Year’s Day.”

“Ye all believe in ghoulies and ghosties

And things that rise out of the sea.

And many of ye call on St. Elmo,

Oh, yes, ye can’t fool me!”

“I heard the stories a’fore I signed articles

And even more I’ve endured since then

I know ye’ve heard it yourselves at least once

But listen up and I’ll tell ye again.”

“There’s a ghost who visits the Sabre

And tho’ she only comes one night a year

She never leaves alone in the mornin’

And where she goes is a place we all fear.”

“She walks the deck at midnight,

Flamin’ hair and a gown of mist,

Her face a mask of fiery rage,

Her hand an icy fist.”

“In life she was a lovely senorita

Taken from a town on the Main

Beaten and abused by a savage pirate crew

Her torturers finally drove her insane.”

“They kept her in chains below deck

With little or nothing to eat

It was only after the worst was all over

That they found the ship’s rats were her meat.”

“One night a scalawag came to take her

Like a fool he let loose her chains

And swinging them like a scythe blade

She decorated the bulkhead with his brains.”

“Screaming then like a banshee

She ran out onto the deck

Startling the first pirate she came to

She turned his face into a mangled, bloody wreck.”

“Her screams brought the watch to attention

And they soon cornered the little Spanish tart

And with a fine shot from his flintlock

The captain put a ball in her heart”

“If they’d pitched her into the sea it’d been over

But they bound her and pulled her up with a jerk

And hung her from the bunt on the mainmast

To let the seagulls and petrels do their work.”

“Now seabirds be right hungry fellows,

I can’t stand their shrill, screechin’, cries,

And we all know when they start eatin’,

They begin with the lips and the eyes.”

“She hung there through both the dog watches

And some say the helm glimpsed her that night

But when the sun rose over the horizon

The little lady was nowhere in sight.”

“They say they never found her body

Not a rag or a thread from her gown

Some say she drifted up to Heaven

I say a squeamish crewman cut her down.”

“But in your stories she comes back for vengeance

Takin’ a crewman on the anniversary of that night

And without any screams or blood or noise

She drags them off into the silvery moonlight”

“And tonight’s the very night ye all tell me

And it’s the midnight watch that I’ve drawn

I suppose that you expect me to be cowerin’

And prayin’ to God that I see dawn.”

“Well, ye won’t catch me singin’ ‘hallelujah,’

Or wearin’ a magic geegaw someplace,

Just look for me in the mornin’

And I’ll be laughin’ right to your face!”

He smirked as he rose from the table,

Leavin’ behind a dozen other men,

Who judgin’ by the looks on their faces,

Believed that they’d never see him again.

I vowed to spend that night above deck

Being young, I wanted to see what I could see

But mornin’ found me asleep on the hawser

And the ship was as quiet as can be.

The men were noticeably silent

They had been that way since dawn

For when the mornin’ watch had taken over

The laughin’ unbeliever was gone.

Of him we found neither hide nor hair,

But in truth it wasn’t much of a loss;

The sea deals harsh to a man without faith

And I think I’ll just keep wearin’ me cross.

I pray that it keeps me safe as I sail,

Or if not, that it leads me to the light,

For at dusk I board the Sabre again,

And I stand the midnight watch tonight.

She walks the deck at midnight,

Flaming hair and a gown of mist,

Her face a mask of fiery rage,

Her hand an icy fist.

Stephen Sanders

©2008

[MadL]

'n they say I be insane with me charms they do, but it be stories by those such as you that make me knows just what I needs t' do!!

[Blackbead]

They say that, do they?!? Well, obviously they be those that have an equal number of takeoffs and landings aboard a plane! If'n ye be so inclined, there still be room aboard the book for works of your art . . . I noticed ye claimed to be a worker of digital art as well. Poems or artwork, this adventure will take 'em all! Go'bless ye for readin' me scribblin's. Fair thee well till we meet again . . .

Blackbead

[MadL]

Aye, I have been tempted t' sign me mark for the book but truth be told me current residence may 'er may not last an entire year. I was actually suppose t' move end o' last year but many things keep chang'n they do; a set back here and another there, combine with companies wash'n in hot water ye see. Afraid that if I lay me mark upon yer article that I may just be th' cog that breaks th' chain before completion comes round 'n I would nay want t' be th' one t' crush anyone's dream by le'en two 'er three 'er more books incomplete ye see.

Poems I be no good with, be'n o' just a simple pirate ye see, me vocabulary be mostly o' words not fit t' print, but aye, I do a bit o' digital art...again some what some may consider "not fit t' print" either. Then o' those that may be, such as these as ye can see: digi Pyrates o' Mad L, do tend t' take me a while as me time fer art these days be few....the Cutthroat Inn fer example was several months from conception t' completion as me computer must do it in parts (a week or more at a time) them compile it all together in PhotoShop.

Perhaps once I finally ha'e a semi-permanent cabin for t' lay me hat then I will lay me mark t' th' project for it does sound like much fun indeed.

[Blackbead]

Say not another word, mate, I be of total and complete understandin'. Take yer time; when ye be ready, then ma'haps we'll be preparin' the secun or e'en the third book! Yer work is incredible! Do ye mind if I share it with others?

Blackbead

[MadL]

Yer work is incredible! Do ye mind if I share it with others?

Blackbead

Not at all, they just be figments in me mind I had t' get out t' make the pain stop

(a bit more rum helps a bit as well...)