We were all pirates once,
To be sure,
Living off the rock;
Learning chords,
Where the sharks fed,
How to walk
The impossible plank.
Did the sea-change really come
So cutlass-slash suddenly –
The way one-time fierce,
Blade biting buccanneers
Tell it?
Matching the speed with which
They turned coats,
Abandoned chests,
Betrayed their crew-mates:
Becoming sulking, silent
Sunken hulks:
Old frayed ropes in
Borrowed hats.
Indeed, may it be,
As cabin-boys whisper still,
That the sea hasn’t changed
At all?
