The Sinking Of The Pearl

A sea story written in a poetic tempo. It's funny how when I was writing this, the song, "The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald" kept playing in my head.

It was a bleak day
And we were underway.
The wind and the waves, they were squallin'.
The crew, they were fine
And their was thirty nine.
No rowdier crew could come Call'n.

With Tom Kidd and crew,
We, all of us, knew
There weren't no one better to lead us.
For sooth I must warn
There'd be one great storm
If'n any lost soul come between us.

With gravel and grit
He kept everyone fit.
He ran a tight ship, that's for certain.
Guns polished and sighted
And cannon ignited
Our enemies all be a hurt'n.

On that fateful night,
We were ready for a fight.
We seen a small ship on the horizon.
The Pearl she was swift
And she couldn't be missed.
She's the best ship I ever put eyes on.

Tom Kidd starts to grin
And to all of his men
He shouts, "Who wants to live here forever?"
Then with a great cry
The First Mate Wiley Blye said, "Let's all go down, then, together."

Their ship, she was fast
And I knew we couldn't last.
An erie blue glow was upon her.
The Pearl won't retreat
cuz she'd never been beat
And the volleys we'd send in a blur.

The blue ship came nigh
It was "FIRE MR. BLYE"
Tom Kidd shouted and the cannon did roar!
Though our cannon were true
'Twas the moment we knew
Davie Jones had returned once more!

The Dutchman was large
That decrepit old barge,
Slipped quietly along right beside us.
It's main sheets were tattered
And the crew was a scattered
Along the railing ready to board us.

The unearthly grin
Of Jones and his men
Sent shivers straight through to our timbers.
A skeleton hoard
Would soon come aboard.
The mood would then become somber.

Kidd gave an evil grin,
And said if'n we can't win
Let's board first and keel haul their captain.
So when it was time
Up went the thirty nine,
And Black Tom Kidd followed close after!

The Pearl burned for days
And in many ways
It fought just like the thirty nine.
But in the end,
Just like those brave men,
The sea claimed the Pearl in her own time.