Thoroughly Poetic Thankful Thimble Thursday

Ahoy, mateys! Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day. Shiver me timbers, we mean Meow and Bark Like a Pirate Day! Aye, aye. That be more like it. Would ye like to sail the seas with us?

That there be a 2017 flashback doodle of Captain One-Eyed Rosie. She says ahoy to all ye mateys!

***

We hope you don't mind, friends, but the rest of this post is going to be in boring ol' regular human speech. I intended and even tried to write a longer post in pirate lingo, but I'm really just no good at it, and it kind of makes my brain hurt. To celebrate this day, though, I did scribble up a sort of piratey poem for Angel Sammy's pirate-inspired Thoroughly Poetic Thursday challenge this week.

Isn't that a perfect photo prompt for this week's poetry challenge? Our host sure knows how to make our poetic endeavors fun and festive.

I actually did try to scribble up a poem in pirate verse. Like I mentioned above, though, pirate speech is not my forte in the least. So, it's still that boring ol' human speak for my poem today. At the very least, though, my poem is about a pirate! Actually, it's about a pirate, and some other really weird stuff I felt compelled to write because come September all I can think about are pumpkins and all things autumnal. Sounds like a real wacky poem, doesn't it? That's because it admittedly is. All I can do is apologize and slap the poem here:

Pirate Pete and the Pumpkin King

Pete was a skilled and world-renowned pirate,

All the way until he disappeared in retirement.

Pirate Pete had sailed the seas for years and years,

Seeking treasure and winning loot without any fears.

But when his hair turned grey and his bones grew weary,

Pete said goodbye to the pirate life, only slightly teary.

That is, until Pete realized he had squandered away his retirement loot.

Had he really bought that many hats, boots, and, well, booze?

Indeed, all of that gold and jewels he had won as a pirate,

It was now all gone and he was an impoverished man in retirement.

Pete did the only thing he could think to do.

He reclaimed his title as pirate and sailed the seas anew.

Pirate Pete began his new travels at the end of winter.

After all, who wanted to sail the seas in cold that could blister?

Throughout the spring he sailed from shore to shore.

He had nearly forgotten how looting was really never a bore.

He followed his maps and found treasure on land after land.

Pirate Pete's boat landed on every shore and its sand.

He continued on throughout the heat of summer,

None of his travels proving even remotely a bummer.

Pete worked so hard and was such a skilled pirate,

He thought by the next winter he might be able to reenter retirement.

By the time autumn rolled its brisk way around,

Pirate Pete had just one land left to which he was bound.

He had heard tales of great treasures buried on Autumn Isle.

Of course, he would have to risk all that was said about that land so wild.

Very few pirates returned from journeys to Autumn Isle,

And those who did seemed to have lost any bit of their mind that was worthwhile.
These poor souls spoke of nonsense quite obscene,
Like living pumpkins and their pumpkin king.

Pirate Pete was not the least bit scared, though.

Certainly he wouldn't fail to win treasure on Autumn Isle, no.

After all, he was the world's most proficient and prolific pirate.

A trip to the Autumn Isles certainly wouldn't cause his life or mind to spiral.

And so, with brisk winds blowing at the sails,
Pirate Pete steered toward the Autumn Isles in search of treasure and tales.
It was a long trip but would certainly be worth it.
Pirate Pete looked forward to the loot that would allow another retirement.

Finally, after days and days at sea,
Land could be seen ahead by Pirate Pete.
He slowed his ship and prepared to land with care,
And just as soon felt a strange chill in the air.

It felt like a brisk autumn day, indeed.
But even more chilling was what Pirate Pete could see.
Autumn Isle was lined with skeletal trees,
Interspersed with pumpkins that Pirate Pete found quite creepy.

His ship was still a good ways out at sea,
And so a true judgement had not yet been made by Pirate Pete.
Finally, his ship alighted the sand of Autumn Isle,
And Pirate Pete immediately wondered if this trip would be worthwhile.

When he had been distracted with bringing him ship to shore,
Pirate Pete had not paid attention to anything offboard.
Now, though, he looked up and gazed out past his ship,
And what he saw drew a great scream from his lips.

On Autumn Isle was the strangest sight Pirate Pete had ever seen.
Shiver me timbers, he thought, is that the pumpkin king?
A tall figure in black stood ashore with a lantern in hand,
The figure's carved orange head much, much brighter than the sand.
It wore an equally orange bow tie around its neck,
Which matched quite nicely with its unmistakable pumpkin for a head.

As if a figure with a pumpkin for a head wasn't strange enough,
Pirate Pete caught sight of yet more pumpkins by the dozen.
These weren't just any pumpkins, though, mind you.
They were pumpkins with pointed ears and whiskers, and that did meow and mew.

"Hello!" the pumpkin-headed figure declared with a wave.
"Would you like to come over for a meal in me and my cats' cave?"
Pirate Pete more or less shuddered at the thought.
This whole situation was absolutely insane, was it not?
Tales he thought raving mad seemed now to be true.
No wonder Autumn Isle was the most feared land in the ocean blue.

Could there really be treasure here worth my while?
Pirate Pete could not help but ask himself that with a sigh.
He was torn between the hope of treasure and the chance to escape.
He needed to make a decision, for the night now grew late.

Again, the figure with the pumpkin head gave him a wave.
"I'm the pumpkin king," it said, "and I promise to behave.
My cats and I don't get many visitors around this place these days.
We'd be happy to show you around, if you'd like to stay."

The pumpkins with the pointed ears and whiskers began to hop onto the ship.
Weird meows and purrs rolled off of their weird pumpkin lips.
At least they didn't bite, or at least they hadn't done so yet.
They simply hopped around Pirate Pete with mews exiting their pumpkin heads.

Pirate Pete felt a nagging at the back of his mind.
Actually, he felt two naggings there, he wasn't going to lie.
On one hand, the absurdity around prompted him to skedaddle.
On the other hand, he had never lost a treasure-seeking battle.

From the shore, the pumpkin king waved and welcomed him again.
On the boat, the weird pumpkin cats continued to meow and spin.
At last, Pirate Pete made up his mind.
If we didn't tell you his decision, would that be unkind?

Well, that was weird. I had a certain vision in my mind when I started this poem, but the end result is in a completely different realm from that original vision. But, I hope you enjoyed even a half a second of that weirdness!

***

As is the case every Thursday, Thimble of course has some Thankfuls to share for Brian's Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.

Though she certainly wishes that window was open much farther, Thimble is at least grateful for window whiffies. They're still few and far between, though, because on most days it's still roughly 90°F here. But on the nice days, when it feels like it might actually be autumn someday this year, Thimble sure does love her window.

Can you see that dog paw behind Thimble in that there photo? Thimble and pup Astrid were battling over the window seat again. They both won this time, because they actually shared the window. I myself am thankful for that. When your kids don't fight, it's always a good day.

We also want to thank you all for your making this blogging community the wonderful place it is!

***

Last but not least, we have for you the fill-in statements for tomorrow's Friendly Fill-Ins challenge. Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two, and I came up with the second two.

1. Never have I ever _________.

2. I won't _________ again.

3. I believe I have good knowledge of _________.

4. _________ is my worst enemy.

We'll see you tomorrow, friends!

***

Did you know?

Did you know that there have been several famous seafaring felines in history? We've previously mentioned Unsinkable Sam. In the times of World War II, this lucky kitty lived on 3 separate ships, all of which sunk, and all of which Unsinkable Sam survived. After the third sunken ship, Unsinkable Sam was retired from life at sea and lived out the rest of his years in the presence of sailors on land. 

There was also Blackie, a cat who resided on HMS Prince of Wales, a Royal Navy battleship that played a role in World War II. Blackie became especially famous when photos were snapped of him being petted by Winston Churchill, who once traveled on the Prince of Wales on a trip to visit Franklin D. Roosevelt. After this, Blackie was more or less renamed Churchill.

Just one more of many historical cats at sea was Simon. Simon was the ship cat of the HMS Amethyst, which was involved in the 1949 Amethyst Incident, also known as the Yangtze Incident. Simon was injured in this event, but he recovered and continued with his rodent-hunting work. Simon was said to have been a source of comfort and morale for the sailors, and he was much-loved on his ship. When Simon passed away, he was posthumously awarded the Dickin Medal, an honor first instituted in 1943 for animals who in some way served in World War II. Simon was also buried with full naval honors.

The above are only just a couple of famous seafaring felines. There was also Camouflage, Convoy, Felix, Peebles, Tiddles, Trim, and even more cats who served at sea. You might be surprised to discover all the cats who have played roles off of land.