St Ignatius College - Ignatian Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

Page 32 text:

30 THE ICI.X'.+1Tf,4,Y That Sant Marie, its men and maids, Sl1OUld THSTC Ol OUT wrath at last. There was a mansion upon the hill, Vllhose silence we never had broke, A village of lyinej spies to kill, A host for our fire and smoke. A Ave, we swore that day they would Pai' H114 PHY- IWW' ever the fates should cast: Their blood should wash the stain away, From the mansion hill to the reekin! haf' Or all that stood on our dcili that 'IEW lVould swing from a irigate mast. NYe schemed and planned and gathered a band. a stanch two hundred strong. Tron of heart and steel of hand, the hawks of whatever warrior land, Till the barque of the corsair at last was manned to avenge the corsair's wrong. Into the fortressed gate we ran, llut their guns roared long' and true And crumpled the swarthy rover man As their iron missles flew. Out of the bay we dragged our way, crippled we limped along: Sternwards, red ran the reeling' tide lYhere the scuppers dripped from our sunclered side Till, distant, the fire of the foeman died, Like a red triumphant song. long months more, while safe ashore, we built our shat- tered crew, Ancl wakened again our cannon's roar, the beacons on many a far-otli shore, 'XVriting' again the pirate lore, the nierchant's cruisers knew. Then they fitted a frigate at Sant Marie, Four long rows of cannon mouth,

Page 31 text:

Si mf. nth tif llc ir' tx s THE PIRJTE 29 Careless grown, from a safety known through many a drunken night, XYe stretched one eve in a spot alone where the swelling waves of the ocean shone And sang to sleep with its eadent moan and the tropie moon alight Then past the guns of the harbor stole A British frigate with bristling tiers, That had bought with the price of a judas' soul, The silence that lulled our fears. They inuttled the beat of their marching feet where our beacon sinouldered brightsd Till l roused to see their ntuskets shine Around our canip in a deadly line And I read the doom of those lads of mine. lYith never a chance to fight. My pistol rang and up we sprang, our naked weapons drawn, And into our midst the hot lead sang as broke the flash of their 'colleys elang To sting, like the hidden serpents tang, and palsy the sailors' brawng I saw my brothers ghastly face Go down in a swath of falling inen, The bullets path like a crimson trace Front forehead to riven chin. And the scattered few of our fifty-two on the blades of the soldiers gone, Save one round dozen that fought their way Down to the rim of the saving bay: That clanibered aboard and sailed away. Into the good red dawn. One round dozen that bared their blades, when frigate and fort were pastg One round dozen that bared their blades. and swore, by llfhoever would be our aids,

Page 33 text:

THE PIRATE 31 Files of soldiers and men of the sea, They followed our pathway south: They picked our track in ships burnt black, wherever our standard flew And we laughed and sang as we sought our lair For the trap was set and ready there And the line fleets ran from the black corsair, As we cleft the ocean blue. XVQ Hed to the cove whence the pirates rove, anchored and sped ashore: And crouched in the grove of the treasure trove, till into the bay the frigate hove Then inland, silently, swift, to move, while their long boats bend the oar. Seven miles we draw a track, Twice a hundred marching wide Into the hills: then double back And crouch in a canyon's side. Their musket sheen is in betweeng they're man to man or more: Theres a cautious stir in the ambuscade, The Hash and roar of a fusillade, A slither of pikes on cutlass blade And the soldiers are no more. XYe strip the dead from heel to head and don their trap- pings gayg Right well we wed their coats of redg their hats tilt well on the pirate's head: NVQ- let them lie in their grassy bed, and turn to the shore away. Cheering and shouting' we reach the soundg The frigate greets us with rocket showers, For we've draped the pirates' kerchiefs round The heads on the pikes that were meant for ours. And they'd never a hint why our heads were bent when under their lee we lay,