Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE TARRY BUCCANEER, by JOHN MASEFIELD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE TARRY BUCCANEER, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I'm going to be a pirate with a bright brass pivot-gun
Last Line: Neer.
Alternate Author Name(s): Masefield, John Edward
Subject(s): Pirates; Piracy; Buccaneers


I'm going to be a pirate with a bright brass pivot-gun,
And an island in the Spanish Main beyond the setting
sun,
And a silver flagon full of red wine to drink when work
is done,
Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Bucca-
neer.

With a sandy creek to careen in, and a pig-tailed
Spanish mate,
And under my main-hatches a sparkling merry freight
Of doubloons and double moidores and pieces of eight,
Like a line old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buc-
caneer.

With a taste for Spanish wine-shops and for spending
my doubloons,
And a crew of swart mulattoes and black-eyed octo-
roons,
And a thoughtful way with mutineers of making them
maroons,
Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Bucca-
neer.

With a sash of crimson velvet and a diamond-hilted
sword,
And a silver whistle about my neck secured to a golden
cord,
And a habit of taking captives and walking them along
a board,
Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Bucca-
neer.

With a spy-glass tucked beneath my arm and a cocked
hat cocked askew,
And a long low rakish schooner a-cutting of the waves
in two,
And a flag of skull and cross-bones the wickedest that
ever flew,
Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Bucca-
neer.




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