The Passionate Reaver to his Meat

Come die with me and be my meat,/ Of you I’ll make a special treat,/ You’ll struggle, yell, scream, and cry/ As I rip and cut, munch and sigh.

And we will set upon the ship,/ You cattle can’t give us the slip./ Your blood flows like rivers and falls,/ Which sounds, to us, like madrigals.

And I will make of thee beds of skins/ Stuck together with shiny pins./ A cap of scalps, and a kirtle/ Made from your dear cousin, Myrtle.

A coat downed with the finest hair/ I’ll pull and pluck till you’re bare./ Fair lined boots for the Black is cold,/ From the carcasses of your old.

Why do you mew about escape?/ When your sweet flesh longs for rape./ For those who live, the fate is worse/ They will join and bear our curse.

So, cry for mercy all you want,/ Your teary eyes do not me daunt./ We’re here now (your heart skips a beat)/ You will die and be my meat.

Based on Christopher “Mack Daddy” Marlowe’s, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love (1599)