Sitting in a dungeon, chains upon his hands and feet

waiting for his trial, and understanding his defeat

when he slept he dreamt about that wretched captain’s face

one day if he could he’d like to teach that fool his place

All he had to eat were bits of bread inside his cell

trying to ignore an ever nauseating smell

the dungeon had no windows but a torch was always lit

filling up the room with smoke that made him cough and spit

One day just by chance another criminal was jailed

claiming he had tried to steal a neighbour’s cow and failed

“maybe when I tried to take it, someone might’ve died

they can’t prove the knife was mine though, someone must have lied”

The thief was in the cell beside the hero’s for a week

talkative at first but soon too sick and tired to speak

the hero didn’t like the man, but loneliness set in

he asked the man if he had heard about the hero’s sin

“You’re a big celebrity,” the laughing thief had said

“no one in the kingdom will be happy til you’re dead”

the hero didn’t ask another question after that

quietly he wondered on the future where he sat

The thief was later taken to be hanged for what he’d done

once again alone, the hero longed to see the sun

days turned into weeks, and then he heard a jailor say

“for crimes against the kingdom, you’ll be tried and hanged today”

The prisoner was led before the royal court to stand

to answer for his crimes, the very worst in all the land

they accused him of so many crimes that he lost count

most of them relying on the victim’s own account

Due to his assault on their own prince’s royal ship

meant to forge a treaty on a diplomatic trip

endless war had only gotten worse in recent years

not a widow in the land would ever dry their tears

Then the final verdict was delivered by a judge

every word he spoke to carry every person’s grudge

“by this pirate’s sword a son was taken from our king

there can be no mercy now for such an evil thing”

The boy could only guess that it was true what they had said

if the prince had fought him then, the prince was truly dead

still he tried to justify the life he had to live

surely his was still a crime that someone could forgive

But every voice he heard at trial was full of rage and spite

endless hours of accusations echoed left and right

the only silent person was the king who sadly sighed

looking at the princess full of anger by his side

Since she was a young girl she’d been longing for the sea

like the queen, the child was kind but stubborn as could be

when he told her she could join her brother, like a fool

how could he have known that she’d return so cold and cruel

The princess didn’t show a shred of mercy at the trial

watching that boy suffer was the only time she’d smile

it seemed like any moment she would kill him then and there

then the court was shocked to hear the king himself declare

“This pirate took my son from me and stole our kingdom’s gold

and brought our royal servants to an auction to be sold

he brought my daughter back, perhaps to ease his guilty mind

but to this pirate’s act of mercy, I’ll respond in kind

Pirate, if redemption really is what you now seek

maybe you shall find it on a battlefield so bleak

you pirates stole our chance of diplomatic means for peace

so go and fight the way you like, until the battles cease”