Changing Course
Norman was a pirate
He’d been one since
The age of three.
He wore a pirate’s
Hat and cutlass
But he had never
Been to sea.
The thing is he hated
The ocean every
Current and each wave,
He didn’t even paddle,
As he wasn’t quite
That brave.
Jolly Roger tried
To chivvy him
Saying it would
Be a laugh,
But Norman
Was so nervous,
He never took,
A bath !
So in the end Norman
Gave up piracy and
All that it entails
And ended up
Living happily,
In sunny
New South Wales.
In case you are
Wondering how
He got to Australia
When fearing
Water as he did,
Well he’d lived
There all his life
From when he
Was just a kid.
He’d been one since
The age of three.
He wore a pirate’s
Hat and cutlass
But he had never
Been to sea.
The thing is he hated
The ocean every
Current and each wave,
He didn’t even paddle,
As he wasn’t quite
That brave.
Jolly Roger tried
To chivvy him
Saying it would
Be a laugh,
But Norman
Was so nervous,
He never took,
A bath !
So in the end Norman
Gave up piracy and
All that it entails
And ended up
Living happily,
In sunny
New South Wales.
In case you are
Wondering how
He got to Australia
When fearing
Water as he did,
Well he’d lived
There all his life
From when he
Was just a kid.
This poem is copyright (©) Bernard Pearson 2026
About the Writer
Bernard Pearson
Bernard's work appears in many publications, including; Aesthetica Magazine, The Edinburgh Review, Crossways, The Gentian, Nymphs The Poetry Village, Beneath The Fever, The Beach Hut Little Stone, The Caterpillar Magazine. In 2017 a selection of his poetry ‘In Free Fall’ was published by Leaf by Leaf Press. In 2019 he won second prize in The Aurora Prize for Writing.
