The Princess and the Pirate

The thunder rolls o’er Drumdale Castle’s walls,
While Princess Eliandra hides within.
All day she did but pace the darkened halls,
And face her morbid fears and deep chagrin.

Afraid that she a lifetime virgin be,
While cloistered in her frigid tower cell,
“O please,” she sobs, “won’t someone rescue me?”
Then wails with bitter sobs that naught can quell.

A princess, she, and yet in sadness clad,
With hope flown up like well burned, sullied ash.
Take heed fair princess, seek no royal lad,
For you tonight shall hide from lightning’s flash

Not knowing that, now perched in yonder tree,
A pirate scalawag has eyes for thee.

~~~ ** ~~~

Well drenched by rain and chilled by biting wind,
More used to seas where sunlit warmth prevails.
Her virtue sought by he who oft has sinned,
And languished many days in rat-filled jails.

He saw her at the fair on yestermorn,
And swore that she be his by next full moon.
This figment of his mind be fancy borne;
He’ll steal her off and not a day too soon.

Her sobs are heard, their sound a wrenching call.
She needs her knight, a liege of noble birth.
Our sodden lad be fresh returned from Gaul,
Without a steed nor tools of any worth.

Our sir, half-drowned, retreats forthwith to think,
His plan, soon hatched, has but one missing link.

~~~ ** ~~~

Yet high amidst the gray, forbidding walls,
Her suff’ring soul could see no end in sight.
But at the bridge, a tattered woolen shawl,
Disguises he who would reverse her plight.

His pirate hair, now loosed as sloven locks
Stands him in stead of she whose cape he stole.
Amidst the courtyard's cobbles rise the stocks
Where he might stand condemned by his vain role.

He shudders once, then courage swells his chest.
With downcast eyes he moves, a shuff’ling gait.
Obsessed that no one now may stay his quest,
The pirate Driftwood totters toward his fate.

He slips inside, unseen, and climbs the stair
While Eliandra paces, unaware.

~~~ ** ~~~

Good fortune smiles upon our scalawag,
Ignored by guards he feared might importune.
A knock, the princess sees a bent o’er hag.
His head thrown back, a shriek, and then a swoon.

His arms hold fast to she he’d only seen,
And heartbeat’s sound doth echo through the hall.
Her now closed eyes, quick seen, glowed em’rald green.
Escape he must, and face what’ere befall.

He gathers up his prize, his princess fair,
Her head against his chest, he barely breathes.
Her pallid cheek, a gentle kiss left there,
What ecstasy and joy it doth bequeath.

With tenderness and hope, he’s at the door
And leans on luck and faith and nothing more.

~~~ ** ~~~

Alas, as though a magic spell be cast,
All those he meets have somehow turned their back.
The precious bundle moans as he slips past,
But naught diverts him from his chosen track.

He’s at the gate, the yeoman stand their guard,
Amongst the sounds, sweet music fills the air.
A melody of lyre and roving bard,
Our scalawag slides by, they’re unaware.

Just then he hears a voice, can it be her?
And feels warm breath against his wind-worn ear.
Reality becomes a dazzling blur,
And soon, he thinks, the angels will appear.

“Kind sir,” she says, “know what you do is wrong.
Yet I am helpless but to go along.”

~~~ ** ~~~

Enchantment holds them fast along the road,
Her weight a feather’s touch against strong arms.
The pirate has become her much-kissed toad,
Her shining knight of bold, redemptive charms.

Fine fingers fold the cover from her face.
“What knight is this who wears a woolen shawl?”
“A pirate, maid, who has no veil of lace,
Who only wished to be my lady’s thrall.”

“A handsome pirate lad ye be indeed,”
As blushing cheeks glow pink as budded rose.
“Make haste, my liege, lest someone intercede,
And take me where the southeast trade wind blows.

You’ve saved me, sir, and not a day too soon,”
She says while gazing at the bright full moon.