The Captain's Red Shirt

Stolen from a friend :)

"The Captain's Red Shirt"
(written in the style of Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner")


I met an ancient mariner
A sot who lurched and swerved
And burled out the strangest tale
Of a captain he once served.


"As lookout, it was I who spied
A pirate ship ahead
The captain turned to me and spoke
'Go fetch my shirt of red' ".


Quick he donned the crimson cloak
And to war the men he led
We bravely fought, and in the end
The cutthroats all were dead.


The second day there were _two_ ships
That flew the skull and bones
Again, the shirt, again we sent
Them down to Davy Jones.


That night I ask the bosun's mate
About the scarlet shirt.
He said "It's there to mask the blood
In case the captain's hurt".


"He doesn't want the men to see
Lest they lose heart and run".
This seemed to me the bravest thing
A captain's ever done.


The next day, SEVEN pirate ships!
I watched the captain frown,
Then turn to me and speak these words:
"Go fetch my pants of brown".

A Guy

Nice 1 Bill & i guess this is for our Capt. Jack Sparrow...