Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PIRATE DOLL, by MERRY WIGGS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PIRATE DOLL, by                    
First Line: Come, tattered little pirate doll
Last Line: For always while I live I shall remember.
Subject(s): Dolls; Toys


Come, tattered little pirate doll without an arm,
Forsake your own stark shell, mute-steeped and grim,
To live again just one brief hour with me,
This hour -- in memory of him.
Let us bring forth the blue-checked spread,
His coverlet, your wind-flung sea,
Let us forget that throbbing, aching dread
Clutched at our hearts, that pain clung in his eyes.
Only the buccaneering hours shall we recall,
The victories, pirate doll, the cache of gems so rare,
Hidden in stealthy darkness under tropic skies,
When you were sailor bold, conqueror of all,
And he a pained, pretending boy with yellow hair.

Speak, tattered little pirate doll without an arm,
From the tight lips which he gave life;
Tell me if you do feel those gentle finger tips,
His hands, still guiding you through foam and strife?
Or is it only haunting, taunting memory
That brings the brief, bright laughter of his lips,
His hair against my face, his call for me?
Oh, pirate doll, you lived just while he lived, and now
You lie at peace, inert as ashes lie
Once leaping flames have left the last bright ember.
But I -- ah, I am living on, not knowing why or how,
Fighting the barren anguished thoughts that never die
For always while I live I shall remember.





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