A Show Aboard Drake’s Ship

And the cannonballs, they say, were lined up by the guns…
But how, children, are we to learn to be pirates?
And when will we learn to keep the cannonballs far from the powder?
And when to glance through the gunport, so that no gull
strays into the range of our shot? By chance.

Just as the Spanish galleon sailing beside you
kept discovering the way to sink…

And, children… one more thing.
Keep your powder wet.
That way you will never see the Queen up close.
And, ungarlanded with her orders and titles,
you will give yourselves to your own narrow and wide voyage round the world.