The Feathery First Mate

“The Feathery First Mate”
(QUATRAIN) In first person
by Hugh A Tague

Gliding high on a warm ocean breeze.
Over white sands beaches and bright blue seas.
Or perched way up high in a coconut tree.
That’s just a few places that I like to be.

From my crown to my tail and on both my wings
Color abounds, red, blue, yellow, and green.
when pirates came to visit me in my tree,
The captain of the ship took a fancy to me.

Aboard his great ship I agreed to stay
The sails filled with wind, and we sailed away.
That night the ship began to rock and sway
A really bad storm had come our way.

A bright golden sky, and the sea stands calm.
The ship made it through another day’s dawn.
But trouble on the horizon began to spawn.
It was a Spanish galleon with her big guns drawn.

They boarded our ship, put the crew in chains.
Took all the treasure and set her aflame.
The galleon set sail with her fortune and fame.
And I got to bunk with the captain again.

We docked in Spain under a sky of tangerine,
A ship’s great bounty in the sun did gleam.
On the captain’s shoulder I went before the queen
She said I was the prettiest bird she had ever seen.