Dorothea Barth Musician and WriterElegant Violin Music for your Wedding or Special EventCeltic Sheet Music Arrangements
Original CompositionsPoetry and Prose

by Dorothea Barth ©2009

Battle in the Strait was inspired by a visit to the 2009 NorCal Pirate Festival.

Most days when I walk this shore
The water flows in peace
It may ripple, it may churn,
Sails languid in the breeze

But on a radiant summer day
In two thousand and nine
To great surprise, the Redcoats came
Where strait and shore align

Imagine such arrival
In view of where did reign
The West Coast’s largest shipyard
Whose restless ghosts remain

Looking closer I discern
What caused this frightful scene:
Everywhere are pirates
Upon my serene green

Singing shanties, shouting arrgh
One tries to capture me
Tempts me with a jeweled cuff
He barely sets me free

My ears then burst with splitting booms
Blue sky fills with haze
I bravely face the water
Sight leaves me in a daze

Red pirate ship with full-blown sails
Arrives where once I’d wait
To board a friendly ferry
For city ‘cross the Strait

Cacophony, confusion
I run into the glen
Cannot conclude who triumphed:
The pirates or Britain?