Pirates are crafty creatures, are they not?

And we are all pirates of a kind,

swooping in to take what is not ours by gift or valour,

brash in our conquest,

gobbling up the potage of another’s birthright,

and dancing round the day’s plunder in gleeful delight.

Still, the universe loves boldness, wise Goethe knew,

smiles so often on the audacious and brightly coloured,

never mind the timid would have us believe quietness is holy.

But there can be the darkest evil in silence.

And there can indeed, be goodness in piracy.

It is the condition of the heart that determines rightness.

Madelaine May has a bit of the pirate in her,

a wild and cockeyed creature she,

stealing into people’s wreckage

and surprising them with their own beauty.

It is a bold calling to draw people to their first love.

Let us hope that on Madelaine’s sleek ship the wind fills the sails

and there is much joyful dancing around redeemed loveliness.

Be bold, my darling, and fierce in your buccaneering.

The world is much in need of golden hearted pirates.