Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CAPTAIN WARD AND THE RAINBOW (2), by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CAPTAIN WARD AND THE RAINBOW (2), by                    
First Line: "strike up, you lusty gallants, with music and sound of drum"
Last Line: Which would a gone into the seas and brought proud ward to me
Subject(s): Pirates; Piracy;buccaneers


Strike up, you lusty gallants, with music and sound of drum,
For I have descried a rover, upon the sea is come;
His name is Captain Ward, right well it doth appear,
There has not been such a rover found out this thousand year.
For he hath sent unto our King, the sixth of January,
Desiring that he might come in, with all his company:
"And if your King will let me come till I my tale have told,
I will bestow for my ransom full thirty ton of gold.'
"Oh nay, oh nay,' then said our King, "Oh nay, this may not be,
To yield to such a rover my self will not agree;
He hath deceived the Frenchman, likewise the King of Spain,
And how can he be true to me that hath been false to twain?'
With that our King provided a ship of worthy fame,
Rainbow she is called, if you would know her name;
Now the gallant Rainbow she rows upon the sea,
Five hundred gallant seamen to bear her company.
The Dutchman and the Spaniard she made them for to fly,
Also the bonny Frenchman, as she met him on the sea;
When as this gallant Rainbow did come where Ward did lie,
"Where is the captain of this ship?' this gallant Rainbow did cry.
"Oh that am I,' says Captain Ward, "there's no man bids me lie,
And if thou art the King's fair ship, thou art welcome unto me.'
"I'll tell thee what,' says Rainbow, "our King is in great grief
That thou shouldst lie upon the sea and play the arrant thief,
"And will not let our merchant ships pass as they did before;
Such tidings to our King is come, which grieves his heart full sore.'
With this the gallant Rainbow she shot, out of her pride,
Full fifty gallant brass pieces, charged on every side.
And yet these gallant shooters prevailed not a pin,
Though they were brass on the outside, brave Ward was steel within;
"Shoot on, shoot on,' says Captain Ward, "your sport well pleaseth me,
And he that first gives over shall yield unto the sea.
"I never wronged an English ship, but Turk and King of Spain,
For and the jovial Dutchman as I met on the main.
If I had known your King but one two years before,
I would have saved brave Essex' life, whose death did grieve me sore.
"Go tell the King of England, go tell him thus from me,
If he reign king of all the land, I will reign king at sea.'
With that the gallant Rainbow shot, and shot, and shot in vain,
And left the rover's company, and returned home again.
"O royal King of England, your ship's returned again,
For Ward's ship is so strong it never will be ta'en.'
"Oh everlasting!' says the King, "I have lost jewels three,
Which would have gone unto the seas and brought proud Ward to me.
"The first was Lord Clifford, Earl of Cumberland;
The second was the Lord Mountjoy, as you shall understand;
The third was brave Essex, from field would never flee,
Which would a gone into the seas and brought proud Ward to me.'





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