Far From Bearded Pirates

Far From Bearded Pirates

Far from bearded pirates of the worn tracks and treetops,

Tops through which the gales howled and so rose and fell the waves on which we rode,

The roaring yawn of a beech hull battered by branches and sopping with leaves,

Always stormy seas but never a soul lost to the swell of the sap.

In the clearings, where canopy and clouds both parted,

We'd point the tips of our swords to the chest of a dulled morning's sun,

Daring her to burn our brows,

Watching her cower to Pirates or Knights in woollen armour,

Oh! how our grannies knit tightly.

When our ship had sailed and wearily wrecked,

Then came the droves of dog-like creatures doused in shadows,

But we feared not for we had Cadence,

Our own mutt who grew ten feet tall and whose bark would stir the roots to swallow the beasts whole,

And she never looking for more than a scruff behind the ears in return.

"Good girl".

- The world ceased when the bell rang -

and we'd bound back towards the doors,

Never surrendering we'd toss our arms together in the porch,

Still steel but now ringing like wood,

For five minutes, forks would be shovels and we'd be back to the outdoors.

We lived in a world where every upturned stone held a fossil,

And every fossil the hope for life once more,

Painstakingly chipping away to free T-Rex from his

endless slumber,

From older sibling to younger, bloodied fingers followed lore.

But alas,

Night came as we lay gazing upwards,

Fading so close to black,

But with the right squint,

You could just make out the shooting stars in the ceiling,

Scampering from corner to corner,

They and us,

Fixed but never still.

Author's Note

Critique wherever you see fit! I hope you enjoyed reading.