The Ship of Captain Joe

From the sturdy mountains,
Skipped down a laughing river,
Born from the glassy glaciers,
Winding along in fervour.

Flowing in lazy languor,
Along the peasant's plain,
She drowns into the sea,
Quenching its lusty pain.

In this very sea,
which washes clean the shore,
Sails the black barked devil,
The ship of captain Joe.

Born along the sea coast,
On an island of crags,
With plank on plank was she built,
By unfed men in rags.

A sailors delight,
And a shipman's pride,
The bony virgin,
Touched the tide.

Fluttering her mast,
Pretty and quaint.
They named her Mary,
And used pinkly used paint.

She sailed for her masters,
Elegant and coy,
Spreading happiness,
And sunlit joy.

Smiles she made,
On faces of friends,
But unhappy was she,
At every day's end.

She was meant for greatness,
She felt and knew,
Not wasting away,
With a scanty crew.

So she waited,
And bid her days,
Until one night,
She got her way.

On the silent nightly trip,
Tame and sickeningly slow,
She heard a mighty roar.
And her sides felt a sword.

And she was captured away,
From her lazy coast,
Into the wild sea,
Alive as a ghost.

The man on the deck,
With his crew,
Cruised her to the sea,
Where she belonged she knew.

Captain Joe was his name,
Who had seized her bark,
A pirate much feared,
By day and by dark.

He stroked his new beauty,
Very tenderly,
Soon the pink was off her back,
And her name was Crysallie.

Many a shore she touched,
On Captain Joe's command,
Many a sea she kissed,
'Neath her captain's hand.

She was laden with treasures,
From time to time.
She was often bejeweled,
By her captain's crimes.

She fought his wars,
On the chaffing sea.
She never drowned,
So strong was she.

She made an oath,
Never to leave,
Her captain's side,
Till the time of Eve.

For long and together,
Did her captain and she.
Sail the oceans,
and reign the seas.

But in this nasty world,
Do joy and sorrow,
Painfully wreak the heart,
As they each other follow.

One day, when the sun rose,
Surrounded they were, she saw,
By warships and the navy,
As ordered by the law.

Captain Joe, her love,
Was ripped from her back,
His hands were behind him,
And his head in a sack.

They walked him to the gallows,
To kill him she knew,
Right before her eyes,
And his faithful crew.

From the strong structure,
He did hang.
Roaring songs of joy,
The 'righteous' people sang.

She was put away then,
Where none would ever go.
Her back ached in misery,
And her planks missed her Joe.