TO
THE HESITATING PURCHASER
If
sailor tales to sailor tunes,
Storm and adventure, heat and cold,
If
schooners, islands, and maroons,
And buccaneers, and buried gold,
And
all the old romance, retold
Exactly in the ancient way,
Can
please, as me they pleased of old,
The wiser youngsters of today:
--So
be it, and fall on! If not,
If studious youth no longer crave,
His
ancient appetites forgot,
Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave,
Or
Cooper of the wood and wave:
So be it, also! And may I
And
all my pirates share the grave
Where these and their creations lie!
