On the High Seas

On stormy nights when thunder rolls
Across the open seas,
The pirate ship that good folk dread
Sails calmly on its breeze.

Destruction follows in its wake,
Fresh terror where wind blows;
“The Seabed” etched upon its bow
For where it sends its foes.

Its fearsome captain at the wheel
Commanding each attack;
Her infamy precedes her deeds:
She’s known as “Black Toed Jack”.

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She tracked the ancient Argonauts
To Thessalian Greece;
Then stunning Jason with her sword
She stole the Golden Fleece.

She commandeered a spectral crew
Without a priest’s support;
Then broke the Flying Dutchman’s curse
By sailing it to port.

When mutineers opposed her will
She made them walk the plank;
Although they wore their PFDs
The sharks made sure they sank.

Around the globe she sailed three times
Pursuing Moby Dick;
When seamen shouted “Thar she blows!”
She caught him with a click.

She raised Atlantis from the deep
To prove it wasn’t lost;
Then let it sink back down again –
It’s upkeep too high cost.

She beat the ghost of Davy Jones
At underwater chess;
The penalty for his defeat:
To wear a muumuu dress.

She found the Monte Cristo gold,
So took it for her own;
Forgetten in her Bitcoin vault,
Two thousand times it’s grown.

When Blackbeard tried to steal her loot
Her cutlass proved the best;
With six quick flicks she shaved him clean,
Providing birds a nest.

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So that my friends is just a taste
Of what awaits at sea;
If you should sight the Pirate Queen
Trim sails, dear fools, and flee!

If Lady Luck be yours that day
So fickle winds be true,
Then count your blessings you escaped
A fatal rendez-vous.

But if no smiles does she bestow
Despite how hard you pray,
Then Black Toed Jack will take what’s hers –
You’re going down this day.

Astray

A shooting star arrives this night
As dancers fill the floor;
Its luminescence pure and bright,
The type one can’t ignore.

It comes to rest upon a tree
To take a twinkling break;
Where did it land, where could it be,
Which branches should you shake?

When bathed within its golden glow,
The darkness cast away,
You stretch to reach it from below,
To snare this stellar stray.

So seize the star and take it home
Then hang it where you dine;
So that each day in coming gloam
Its radiance can shine.

Cherry Blossom Blues

When summertime comes, Sun gods reign supreme,
We cheerfully play Cherry Blossom Blues;
With sandcastle dreams, quick melting ice cream,
Our memories adrift on a palm tree cruise.

When autumn arrives, Satan comes to town,
We mournfully hum Cherry Blossom Blues;
As stranger things roam, our world’s upside down,
The devil collects long-forgotten dues.

Midwinter, midnight, Santa’s gifts arrive,
The jingles disguise Cherry Blossom Blues;
Hearth-warming inside, our fires still alive,
What’s already lost we cannot now lose.

Fleeting rhapsody, spring’s flirtatious wink,
Bittersweet and sour, bluenote days in pink.

Monster’s Ball

When the nights draw in and the clouds unpour,
When the blood-red leaves mark advancing Fall,
When the threat of winter bangs at our door,
It’s time once again for the Monster’s Ball.

All the usual suspects have come this night:
The undead, the quick and the corpsified;
There’s Count Dracula, flown in for a bite;
Doctor Frankenstein’s brought his creature’s bride.

On the dance floor zombies are shuffling slow
While the werewolves howl to the strobing beats;
Lord Cthulhu limbos the bar down low
As the Donald lies and again he cheats.

It’s a Monster’s Ball on All Hallow’s Eve;
Time to trick or treat, time to make believe.