MASTERPIECE #144

/// Captain Cook sailed all over the world
blown by winds against canvas unfurled.
Here, on canvas he’s shown
mapping lands once unknown,
with his grey wig impeccably curled.

/// Wise Ben Franklin, so worldly and clever,
sought all ties with Great Britain to sever.
Yet he made the request
that Yank ships not molest
Captain Cook or H.M.S. Endeavour.

/// On the voyages he undertook,
his discov’ries filled many a book.
Since he’d caused deaths and pain
he, in battle, was slain,
but Hawaiians did not cook James Cook.

/// Tried to kidnap and ransom the King
with no thought of disaster he’d bring.
On Saint Valentine’s Day
Cook would finally pay
for so ruthlessly “doing his thing.”

/// Through the lens of today it seems odd
that Cook wouldn’t, with kings, “spare the rod.”
When his ship first arrived
it matched details derived
from the worship of Lono, their god.

/// Some who traveled with Cook thus believed
that Hawaiians had all been deceived
into deification
(which excused exploitation).
Not the case, (but his death they all grieved).

/// After braining and stabbing James Cook,
the Hawaiians, his dead body took.
All their rage had been slaked.
With respect he was baked.
Not to eat, (though that’s how it might look).

/// As they’d do for a corpse of their own,
they would separate flesh from the bone.
Gave back portions so he
could be buried at sea,
(which may have been, in part, to atone).

/// Controversies have marred this great man.
J.M. Barrie, though, might be a fan.
No doubt Captain James Cook
inspired Captain James Hook,
the vile pirate who fights Peter Pan.

/// “Treasure Island,” R. Stevenson’s book,
has a fictional seaman (like Hook).
Captain James Flint’s name works,
as does Captain James Kirk’s,
as more Captains derived from James Cook.