X Marks The Spot | Teen Ink

X Marks The Spot

September 12, 2023
By Anna_Grace GOLD, New Paltz, New York
Anna_Grace GOLD, New Paltz, New York
16 articles 0 photos 0 comments

X marks the spot for the treasure of the pirate queen,

Queen of the six continents and the seven deep blue seas

Waiting for the stranded sailors to wash upon the beach,

Piercing their hearts with her banshee scream.

Tips her hat as they stumble ashore,

Bites the poison apple with a rotten core, 

Foreign invader of long forgotten folklore

Wouldn’t be here if life weren’t such a dreadful bore,

But before you stick by her side, chasing headlong into hell

Take some advice lest you end up in a padlocked cell

Piracy is poker, no room for such an obvious tell,

And wooden ships’ raging fires are impossible to quell


X marks the spot for the heart of the redhead villainess

A slash of pantaloons under a ripped up dress

Where she stole away, is anybody’s guess

Outrunning the law like Mary declared her blessed

Hand in hand, she’ll take your ship,

With a slash of a sword and a slash of a quip,

A slight curl at the edge of her lip,

A slight curl at the edge of her whip.

Damned fool, you deserve only pity,

You think only you can save a red-light city?

Perhaps you’ve misconstrued; this won’t be pretty,

Don’t ever turn your back on a woman who’s witty


X marks the spot, and then she’s gone,

Soon you’ll be lost in her siren’s song

X marks the spot, so many lines crossed

So many battles fought, but what’s the cost?

X marks the spot, so now what’ve you got?

A little red dot becomes a deadly blot,

X marks the spot, the North Star the only god

By sea the ship’s tossed, on and on and on,

On and on and on


X marks the spot for Cupid’s arrows’ flight,

Crack of dawn, guided by moonshine starlight,

She comes upon them like a wheat field blight,

Damned if she didn’t put up a fight

They swim with her as if kittens in shark infested salt water,

Swim with a marked son once claimed as a daughter,

Necks then wrung like a lamb in a slaughter,

Yet staying still as the trail gets hotter.

I warned you, child, you’ve lost your head,

And yet here you lie, you’ve made your riverbed, 

Yet I saw you weep, her bandage you as you bled.

Did you really think they would stop before you both were dead?


X marks the spot for the sword in your chests

Just your heads on spikes would make you stop your quest

You two refuse to part in life, so we part you in death

Left for the crows ‘til even for them there’s none left.

I told the truth, darling, you’ve only yourself to blame,

Handcuffs round poles, or a spinning weather vane,

Did she die in your arms? What a crying shame.

This is the reward when you treat life as a game

But for the creature in your womb, they’d hang you by the sunrise,

And none will care for such a great disguise 

And unless they strike you dead blind, 

The last thing you’ll see is those beautiful green eyes.


X marks the spot, and now she’s gone,

And you were lost in her siren’s song

X marks the spot, so many lines you crossed

So many battles you fought, but what’s the cost?

X marks the spot, so now what’ve you got?

A little red dot becomes a deadly blot,

X marks the spot, the North Star the only god

Pirate girl or cabin boy, on and on and on

A chuisle mo chroídhe, on and on and on


The author's comments:

This poem is based around the real story of Anne Bonney and Mary Reade, and the idea of someone's warnings to Mary about Anne (which, of course, fall on deaf ears)


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