A Pirate’s Last Words

A Pirate’s Last Words

I am the last man of my kind

And soon there’ll not be any

Black spotted as I stand here

With treasure not a penny

You mean to see me here well hanged

This hempen halter fit for me

You’d hang me for a thousand slaves

My human booty now set free

But not a life I ever took

That did not mean to take my head

I took the ship, but spared the crew

And for that you would see me dead

How many fell in ‘61?

Were slaughtered in your civil war?

How many brothers, fathers, sons,

Will see their families never more?

But I am just a privateer

And from the poor I’ve stolen naught

You squiffies do condemn me here

For stealing from the wealth you’ve got

For my part, I have no regrets,

I’m come to meet a pirate’s fate

I’ll soon be with my comrades old

To splice the mainbrace with my mate

So send me off to Davy Jones,

You’ve come to stretch my neck for me,

And you will have my mortal bones

My corsair soul will sail home free

Wilson/06

*Nat Gordon was the last pirate ever hanged for stealing 1000 slaves, the cargo of a slave ship in 1862