Tonight's Poet Corner: Pirate's Gratitude

Pirate's Gratitude
by Belinda Roddie

She doffed her hat to the
hook-handed lieutenant, who
eyed her cautiously, unwavering,
as he bore more scars and had
lost more limbs than most of her crew.

The buccaneers stood looking on,
drinking from barrels and praying
that they'd avoid scurvy, their boots
dredged in brine and their open wounds
still bleeding from the barrage. But the
lieutenant was letting them go, and the captain,
smiling, waved a thank you as she
returned to her ship and left a feather
from her hat floating toward the officer's
remaining, steel-like fingers.