The Pirate, Jack Sparrow
N. J. Sorenson
© December 2003
Fortunes are hunted and won, or are lost,
When men seek after riches at sea.
And a wise man must reckon he knows of the cost,
And what the price of his own soul could be,
When gold calls and awakens their greed.
And lust captures the heart with unbreakable chains,
Past all hoping, past wanting, past need.
So desperate men may chance desperate deeds
And take without feeling or pause.
And codes can be broken, allegiance ignored
By those who live outside men's laws
Hell's deepest circle lays share to a claim
On a mutineer's blackhearted soul
When he steals from another what never was his
To achieve his own villainous goal.
The curses dishonest men bring on themselves
Can drive any sane man to grief.
But eternal damnation seems small price to pay
When a pirate proves naught but a thief.
Marooned and forsaken, left only to die
A man can be broken and bowed.
But some men will fight with a will made of steel,
And escape, both ennobled and proud.
What pow'r drives a man when he's been so betrayed?
What strengthens and pushes him on
When each obstacle scaled is replaced with one more,
And his goal seems unreachably gone?
Steadfast, with purpose that none can restrain,
He braves all, and is true to his Quest.
And he uses the weapons a clever man can:
A pistol, a sword, and a jest.
For tho' all who see, brand him merely a fool
And he travels alone, without friend,
He suffers their scorn and disdain and contempt
And despite all, wins through in the end.
Some say that a pirate has naught but a stone
In the place where his heart should reside.
But some pirates are much more than most men would count,
With a heart that's been tested and tried.
Some pirates love freedom above silver and gold,
And horizons that beckon afar.
And their hearts hold a compass that points truer than
Course plotted by sextant or star.
Such a man searches for life without bounds
And rejects all confining degree.
And all that this Pirate longs to possess
Are the sky and his ship, and the sea.
For a ship can be much more than rudder and sails,
More than deck, and a hull, and a keel.
A ship can be mistress and lover and mate
When a Pirate takes hold of the wheel.
