The Pirate
After José de Espronceda
With ten cannons, polished on board,
With full sails before the wind,
As swift as the wings of a gull,
A skiff prowls through the flood:
The skiff of the pirate Herr,
Known on all the seas
And from one beach to another,
Baptized “the Shark” for his courage.
In dark water flits the moon,
The wind whistles and lashes the rigging:
A long silver streak runs
Wide through choppy blue waters.
And the pirate captain
Sits and sings at edge of the rudder,
Asia left, right the beaches of Europe,
And sings and sings and swings his hat:
Fly, my sailors, fly
Undaunted;
Fly and sail to victory!
Mock the storms, the cliffs and the reef,
The whims of heaven, the enemy ships,
Dare to die for your Herr!
Twenty prizes
Have we captured,
Laughed out loud
At national caps;
A hundred nations
Lie here at my feet
And salute us
With their flags.
For my skiff is my wealth,
For my law is my desire,
My God is the wind, freedom my right,
My only country the sea!
Kings fight overseas
In blind greed,
Over a few acres of beets.
Look, I laugh! My fields
Reach as far as the wide wild
Sea unfurls its banner of freedom.
There is no pennant
That glistens like it,
There is no coast,
Where it borders
That has not
Saluted my dynasty,
That has not recognized
My right to rule.
For my skiff is my wealth,
For my law is my desire,
My God is the wind, freedom my right,
My only country the sea!
Hardly a shrine to Mars boys:
Ship in sight!
It runs now with full lungs,
Hoi, all sails full, turns tail and runs,
It runs and runs; for this lout
Doesn’t love the king of the sea.
But as brothers,
You and I,
My faithful.
We divide the loot,
The only thing
I take for myself,
Without dispute:
You, my beauty, you!
For my skiff is my wealth,
For my law is my desire,
My God is the wind, freedom my right,
My only country, the sea!
Damned to hellfire,
To death on a rope,
I sit and laugh at you!
Guard yourself, wretches: whom I desire
I will hang on the yard-arm,
Perhaps from his own brig!
And if I fall:
That is life!
I had already back then
Given it up for lost,
When I broke the chain,
When I, a hero
Created my own law,
My own world.
For my skiff is my wealth,
For my law is my desire,
My God is the wind, freedom my right,
My only country, the sea!
Melodies like blustering
Organs throng and
Play around me in the night storm, swishing,
My quivering ropes moaning,
My cannons booming thunder
And the black seas roaring.
With their violent
Songs around me
I go to rest,
Surrounded by surging waves.
Rejoicing tongues
Surround me here,
Sung to sleep,
By the sea, by the sea
For my skiff is my wealth,
For my law is my desire,
My God is the wind, freedom my right,
My only country, the sea!
In dark water flits the moon,
The wind whistles and lashes the rigging:
A long silver streak runs
Wide through choppy blue waters.
And the pirate captain
Leans silently, high on the rudder’s edge,
Left Asia, right the beaches of Europe,
His hat pulled down deep over his forehead.
With ten cannons, polished on board,
With full sails before the wind,
Swift as the wings of a gull,
Prowls a skiff through the flood:
The skiff of the pirate Herr,
Known on all the seas
And from one beach to another,
Baptized “the Shark” for his courage.
-Richard Dehmal
translated by Joe Bandel
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