Black Mora
A Legend

by A. Leslie

My cloak and plume were scarlet
 (My hands were scarlet too)
And high above my taffrail
 The Raven Banner flew.

What cared I for Britain!
 What cared I for Spain!
I was law and terror
 There upon the Main.

Pistol, dirk and cutlas;
 Keelhaul, yard-arm, flame
Men feared God Almighty
 Less than Mora's name!

Now in gold and velvet
 I sail these seas again,
I, the outlawed pirate,
 An Admiral of Spain.

Dock and gallows cheated
 Of their rightful due;
Hell and Satan euchered
 By a godless crew.

Freed by Seal and Parchment
 From the Brand of Cain,
Mora walks the quarter—
 An Admiral of Spain!