To the Undecided Buyer

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!

If sailors’ tales told to sailors’ tunes, Of storms and adventure, heat and cold, If schooners, islands, and marooned sailors, And pirates, and buried gold, And all the old adventure stories, retold Exactly in the old-fashioned way, Can please the wiser young people of today, As they pleased me long ago: So be it, and dive in! If not, If bookish young people no longer crave, Having forgotten their old tastes, Kingston, or brave Ballantyne, Or Cooper, who wrote of woods and waves: So be it, too! And may I And all my pirates share the grave Where these writers and their creations lie!