Of Schooners, Islands and Maroons, And Buccaneers and Buried Gold, And Torches red and rising moons, If all the old romance retold Exactly in the ancient way, Can please, as me they pleased of old, The wiser youngsters of today— So be it, and fall on! If not— If all the boys on better things Have set their spirits and forgot— So be it, and fall on! If not— If all the boys on solid food Have set their fancies, and forgot Kingston and Ballantyne the brave And Cooper of the land and wave, So be it also; and may I And my late-born piratic brood Unread beside the ancients lie! So be it and fall on! If not— If studied youth no longer crave— Their ancients’ appetites forgot— Kingston and Ballantyne the brave, For Cooper of the sea and wood— So be it also; and may I And all my pirates share the grave Where these and their creations lie.
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Of Schooners, Islands and Maroons
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