Masefield - Morgan (or Morganse Le Fay)
Morganse the Merry played beside the burn:
the other said "Go home: return, return"
She ran with naked feet in the bright foam;
the shepherd on the cliff-top called "go home".
Beyond this jutting headland, drawn to land,
a pirate's Drake-ship lies upon the sand.
There, filling water, is the pirate's crew.
Beware, lest, with the water, they take you.
They filled red earthen jars: their King stood near
Whetting the deadly edges of a spear.
He was a young man, smiling, with black eyes;
In all a pirate's wisdom he was wise.
He wore a scarlet cloak above a mail
of shining silver wrought like salmon scale.
Now (Morganse thought) the go away, away.
Oar-blades green-swirling. Dragon spouting spray.
O would I could.....and suddenly she felt
two pirates grip her firmly as she knelt
King Lot, the silver scaled, said "By-and-by
when you are wiser, you will make a spy.
And when the seasons make her seventeen
King Lot of Orkney took her as his Queen.
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