NIGHTMARES FROM AN UNBLEACHED MIND
ZEALOUS O’ER THE SEAS
There was a ship tore o'er the sea Zealous she was in name and in deed We caught with ease all of our prey, Nary a one gave us a slip The bounty was always plenty Filling out hold to the deck. Fill up our ale mugs and raise them high Give our Captain Bones a cheer Hey! Stalwart and brave, a rogue to his core Captain Billy Jack Bones HEY! Billy Jack led the Zealous on many a wild chase She was a fearsome sight to behold With raised colors most tried to flee As we came upon them All the crews fought valiantly But for them it came to naught Fill up our ale mugs and raise them high Give our Captain a cheer Hey! Stalwart and brave, a rogue to his core Captain Billy Jack Bones HEY! Billy Jack entranced the women on each pirate isle From St. Mary's Island came Jaquotte; Clew Bay gave up Sadie Tortuga brought his Bonny; Ching Shih was from Port royal At Barataria Bay he fell for Mary Read His met his fate on New Providence, Anne Bonny Fill up our ale mugs and raise them high Give our Captain a cheer Hey! Stalwart and brave, a rogue to his core Captain Billy Jack Bones HEY! The six hellions thought they his only bride Given the news from the massive Black Ghost Ship Sailing out aboard the ship, the six brides did plan To give Billy his comeuppance for once and evermore Fill up our ale mugs and raise them high Give our Captain a cheer Hey! Stalwart and brave, a rogue to his core Captain Billy Jack Bones HEY! Captain Bones was surrounded, ale wenches four All headed to his den, for pleasure and more A blow to his noggin ended that display Tethered to a mast he awoke to six deadly glares Each bride flogged our Billy in turn, unmercifully Anne Bonny approached him at the last, no whip in sight Proud was our Captain, he stared into her eyes Anne Bonny aimed her pistol; Billy Jack Bones was gone So heed this tale when considering to wed Be extra cautious with who you take to bed Marriage vows are sacred; Offer no contempt Or you'll live in agony beyond what was ever dreamt
Fill up our ale mugs and raise them high Give our Captain some cheers Hey! Hey! Stalwart and brave, a rogue to his core Was Captain Billy Jack Bones HEY! HEY! Captain Billy Jack Bones HEY!
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**The female pirates, the pirate safe havens, the Zealous, are all part of Pirate history. The HMS Zealous lived on in three different vessels. I moved the female pirates around for this story-song. The pirate havens were real. Plundering was real.
Everything else was my creation. Hey Hey!
Nightmares from an Unbleached Soul theme is at its end. 26 lyrical poems written daily during the month of April (no Sundays). It began on April 1st and ended Thursday, April 30th. There is still one more piece to this year’s AtoZ Blog Challenge: we are asked to write our Reflections on the process, successes, thoughts, and any changes you might like to make. All the blogs that survived this Apri’s challenge will post their Reflections between May 4th to May 16th.
I will post my Reflections on either May 4th or 5th. I’ll let you know.
I hope you find new blogs that draw you in. If you wish to, go to The Master List.
I’ve asked a few questions along the way: what genre of music you think suits the lyrics best? Who or what style of music was in my head when I wrote these? My last one for the end:
- Why Nightmares From An Unbleached Soul?
- I’m curious.: How do you interpret it
- for yourself?
- why do you think I chose that as my theme title?
Comments are always welcome.
HEY! HEY!
Another A to Z behind you. Well done! Congratulations on a successful completion.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
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Thank you, Arlee. Congrats to you and the rest if your team.
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Hi Stu,
I’m doing your posts in reverse. So, I’m not quite sure about how the previous poems adhere to the title, and whether they’re all about nightmares or not. I do like the concept of an unbleached soul and relate quite strongly to that. I see so many people being corporatized and losing their essence so your title addresses that well. It could also be expressed as “Visions of the Unbleached Soul” or “The Cries of An Unbleached Soul” depending on your content.
The poetry anthology I self-published just after I finished uni back in 1991 was: “Locked Inside An Inner Labyrinth” and we seem to be on a similar wavelength. Your title makes plenty of sense to me.
I could well see this poem being set to music as a ballad and appearing on Pirates of the Caribbean.
really enjoyed it and it was well written.
Best wishes,
Rowena
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The thought of Disney buying the rights to Zealous made me smile. I most likely wouldn’t have to worry about money for quite a while.
Yes, you got the gist of the theme title. I tried a number of nouns but felt Nightmares fit closest to where, and what, we are.
The nightmare in this one is two-fold. Cheating, revenge, greed, and then a crew that justifies what the main character does because of what they reap from their “captain’s” doings. Kinda reminds me of someone and cohorts. Hmm. Not sure who.
Thanks for the comments.
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So do your poems work together to tell a story? I was going to suggest that you put a page together at the end so people can easily start reading from the beginning. I do a list every year. My posts stands alone but also tell a story as a whole. I need to print them all out and read them as a whole and I might suddenly feel like I’ve put my soul out there and want to delete or edit the lot. That said, when I used to do poetry readings when I was younger, I put a lot of intimately personal stuff out there and didn’t give a damn.
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Hi Rowena: a lot of good questions.
I used the theme title as I would as an album title. I tried different styles day by day, with no through-line. In a way, there are many that could fit together better than how I did it day by day. I was thinking of lyrics more than poems.
I usually do that alphabet list. For whatever reason, I pooped out by the end. I have nothing of importance to do this weekend, so maybe it’d be a good Sunday post. I also should add links to blogs I enjoyed. Yup. I’ll do that on Sunday.
If you’ve begun to read them all, I did insert a lot of personal things as well. Some I went story route and others were led by the day’s letter and title. I reread all 26 today, and I noticed I repeated a lot of words from one piece or the other. I know the meter is way off on some, more so with the non-rhyming posts.
And don’t you dare delete your work. Give it some time before you reread them. Then, make your second (or third) draft to tighten what you feel needed tightening.
I’m looking forward to your comments while you are reading them backwards.
Thanks.
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Arrgh matey! What a smacking way to end this challenge!
Congratulations 🙂
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Thank you. And congratulations on finishing your mystery. There’s more life in your characters. Glad you liked.
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Thank you for that!
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Argh, me hearties! Well done. I can see this one with music, indeed.
An enjoyable lot of posts and well done for getting through it, Stuart!
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Did you raise a mug of ale with each chorus? 🙂 Thanks, Sue. Congragts to you as well.
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Zeal or zealous, it is such a fun word.
Congrats on finishing up the 2020 A to Z challenge!
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Thank you, Shari. Congrats right back atcha.
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Congratulations on completing the A to Z!
It was a pleasure to read your lyrical verses on such a diversity of topics- hats off to your creativity.
I felt the pep and zing in this one, despite the gory end.
I think your title alludes to the fact that you lay yourself and perhaps your worst fears, bare to your audience, through these 26 pieces. “Nightmares” refer to your worst fears, and “unbleached soul” refers to the absence of restraint and being absolutely honest about your feelings.
Perhaps my explanation is too simplistic? What do you think?
Look forward to more from you!
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Noor, you just about hit it on the head. People have scratched their heads not understanding the theme title at all. I’m glad you realized the gist of what I was going for. I’ll explain it a bit deeper in my Reflections. Will it be ok if I quote what you wrote here?
And I am looking forward to following you and where you go.
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Yes of course you can quote me! I’d love that 😃
Look forward to your reflections!
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And I look forward to yours as well. Thanks for the permission.
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Yo ho ho! What a fun way to end the A-Z! Congrats on finishing once again.
Black and White (Words and Pictures)
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Thank you, and same to you on servicing another April. Glad you enjoyed this one
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