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The captain's standing on the deck,

Staring defiantly out to sea;

He feels the sea breeze at his neck,

But he knows he wouldn't be here if not for me.



He's gotten rich beyond his dreams by stealing Spanish gold,

While the crew's gotten drunk off of Carribean rum;

He's got plenty of doubloons tucked away in the hold,

But to me he sold his soul for a king's ransom...



We've come a long way, the captain and I,

From the Gold and Ivory Coasts to the shores of the Colonies;

We've had a good time, but its end is well nigh,

And now it's someone else's turn to rule the seven seas.



His first taste of a pirate's greed

Was when he served under Captain Drake;

Running with the Sea Dogs gave him the need

To begin robbing, pilaging, and plundering for his own sake.



There was a time when he first bought his own ship and crew,

But he couldn't steal enough to pay them off at first;

So he made a deal to give the Devil his due,

And in return I quenched his insatiable thirst.



We've come a long way, the captain and I,

From the Gold and Ivory Coasts to the shores of the Colonies;

We've had a good time, but its end is well nigh,

And now it's someone else's turn to rule the seven seas.



Now it's ten years past,

And he's ready to quit the sea.

He's done his time before the mast,

And he says, "Enough of the pirate's life for me!"



He plans to sail to his home ports,

And choose a new captain on the way;

He'll leave it up to his cohorts

Whether they want to retire as well or stay.



And so the captain's standing on the deck,

Knowing that his way is crystal-clear;

He's at the end of his life's trek,

But in his heart are the troubled seeds of fear.

Then he decides that the time has come;

He knows his crew will bring him home without worry or fail.

They shout "Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum!",

And the ship comes to life as it begins to set sail...



Now it's been a week or two,

And the ship is straddling the coast.

The captain's being thanked by the crew

As partygoers would thank a very gracious host.

A storm begins to brew,

And the sea turns violent like an angry ghost...



The crew does its very best

To keep from sinking under every wave;

The vicious winds do the rest,

And they find that it's their own lives they must save.

The masts begin to break and the winds blow forward

As the sea overtakes the deck and washes men overboard.

The captain clings onto rigging in deadly fright,

And he looks at the storm's eye, seeing a terrible sight:

My face in the clouds, smiling back at him,

Letting him know that this is indeed my whim.



Only then does he really see

That the fears in his heart are true;

That's what you get for bargaining with me,

And it's time to pay the Devil his due...



The captain now lies on the deck,

Entombed in his watery grave,

Amid the fallen timbers of his wreck,

Hundreds of feet below the crest of a wave.

Another sad story for men to tell,

Of a man possessed by his own greed;

Another soul in my eternal service in Hell,

Forever regretting his every evil deed.

Maybe centuries from now,

Another captain of a year yet to be

Will find this wreck at its bow,

And learn what fools these mortals be...



We came a long way, the captain and I,

From the Gold and Ivory Coasts to the shores of the Colonies;

We had a good time, but he had to die;

And now another captain rules the seven seas...





Patrick Hopkins



First written 9/26/2001, originally posted on www.neverendingbook.com; just retrieved from new version of website.