Mary Read

Hair tied low
With mischief in her smile
Dressed in mans clothes
She told me of her life
England born
Regretfully a girl
For if she’d been a boy
A coffer she’d have earned
And just like me
They dressed her as a 'Tom'
She ran off to sea
First chance she got
She worked many schooners
She joined the cavalry
She clad from man to woman
Whatever made her free
Whoa, such a girl I’d never seen
Whoa, fistful lif, pistol keen
Whoa, such a friend there’d nver been
Whoa, than the likes of Mary Read
And when we met
I felt a sudden union
Sister and a friend
Kindred companion