Cook and Me
Cook and me
Entered a derby
Did we
A wild spree
From Chicoutimi
To Koutenay
In B.C.
Against we
Were two Maori
Aki and Riki
From New Zee
Who decreed
That Cook and me
Were the enemy
And that we
Should carry
No destiny
Our journey
Proved to be
One of discovery
And at times glee
I make no apology
For this testimony
As it was to be
A catastrophe
For Cook and me
And I do plea
That you see
This history
Presented to thee
With mercy
For him and me
And give amnesty
To him and me
At first our rally
Was as jolly
As it could be
As Cook and me
Were in the lead
And Aki and Riki
Were in our lee
Obscured by trees
So we didn’t see
The two Maori
Chasing Cook and me
And our aptly
Named cutty
The Discovery
We left Chicoutimi
And we journeyed
And we felt free
But Aki and Riki
Were very tricky
Acting very quickly
Caught us swiftly
By the time we
Reached Sudbury
They took the lead
With a burst of speed
Overtaking Cook and me
We paid no heed
For Cook was in need
Of satisfying greed
And stole a deed
To a mine indeed
Where gold did bead
And we drank mead
With the Maori in the lead
We did party
Not long in Sudbury
For Cook’s deed
Was a forgery
Not worth a penny
In his or my century
He gave me an apology
And said to me
To which I agreed
That we did need
To up our speed
To catch the Maori
Aki and Riki
We go by Moosonee
He did decree
But I could not see
His strategy
“Cartography”
He said to me
“Our Discovery
Will make it be
A route of secrecy
Where the trees
Cannot be”
This to me
Was sheer lunacy
For Moosonee
Was to our lee
And had to be
Miles away to me
Yet by diplomacy
Did he sway me
And make me agree
To go to Moosonee
“Look for parsimony
In all that you see”
Cook said to me
As the Discovery
Whisked to Moosonee
“With certainty
Shall the two of we
Reach Koutenay
Before the Maori”
He was cocky
Though his logic rocky
For it couldn’t be
Faster by Moosonee
Than by Sudbury
“Wait and see
And you will agree”
He said onto me
It could hardly
Be called a city
This Moosonee
Marked by poverty
And a marked paucity
Of any amenities
To spur one’s vanity
Yet it was the place to be
For my captain and me
For it was in Moosonee
That Cook told me
What he did foresee
As our destiny
In the Arctic Sea
And that we
Were about to be
Hailed in history
In this city
Cook parted me
In order to carry
Out his strategy
He had left me
In a tannery
That I do decree
Was very smelly
He told me
To secretly
Get them to agree
To make a leathery
Map for the two of we
Upon it was to be
A legend and key
To be kept in secrecy
For Cook and me
The map made for me
In the foul tannery
Was the finest that could be
The best one I did see
For it held the key
To Cook’s strategy
I owed him an apology
For now I could see
Exactly what he
Had in store for me
It was by sea
That the two of we
Would find Koutenay
Beating Aki and Riki
The two Maori
In our spree
For victory
It would be
Day Three
In Moosonee
That he
Came back to me
Where he be
Was a mystery
To me
Yet I did not query
For I did see
He did carry
A sundry
Of potpourri
That for me
Gave testimony
As to where he
May have be
His inventory
And his itinerary
Were clear to me
In the Arctic Sea
The two of we
Were to be
T’was our destiny
And Cook and me
Got our sleep
Mine not deep
Since I dreamed
Of frigid seas
And awful disease
I felt ill at ease
I could not please
My anxiety
In Moosonee
In the morn set we
In a northerly
Route to the sea
Our Discovery
Packed to the teeth
With items of mystery
To all but we
Cook and me
By three
Moose Factory
Was plain to see
The little city
Was glum and icy
It marked the boundary
No more country
To the inland sea
Bypass it did we
The winds were blowy
The weather snowy
It seemed to me
We would not see
Ever again beauty
As we were on the sea
And at its mercy
But there was glee
In Cook’s way to be
His philosophy
Was that discovery
Gave a reason to be
And on the Arctic Sea
Where no clemency
Was given to we
He did decree
His jubilancy
He had his fancy
And his fantasy
That to me
Was lunacy
But on the sea
He showed mastery
And the two of we
Followed the map’s key
And came to be
In territory
That could not be
But was plainly
There to see
A rift valley
Where none should be
But Cook and me
Made this discovery
You may decree
That its imaginary
But I say to thee
That I did see
This rift valley
Come to be
For Cook and me
And our journey
On the Arctic Sea
It led directly
To Koutenay
And our victory
In this rally
Against the Maori
Aki and Riki
This is my story
This is our history
You may say to me
That my testimony
Sounds phoney
And full of baloney
Not a full story
Leaves a mystery
About Cook and me
After the two of we
Left the Arctic Sea
But you have to see
I’m sworn to secrecy
Maintaining the privacy
Of a man that came to be
In the Eighteenth Century
It is only the Admirality
That can be privy
To the true reality
Even the two Maori
Aki and Riki
Know this to be
And have agreed
To accept our apology
And the powers that be
Will give us leniency
And accept our candidancy
For next year’s rally
As long as we
Agree to race legitimately
But forfeit must we
This year’s trophy
And any bounty
That came to we
During our journey
From Chicoutimi
I write in urgency
As you can see
Because Cook and me
Have agreed
To take Aki and Riki
Back to New Zee
Where they shall be
The honourees
Of a ceremony
For winning the rally
Then the Maori
Shall meet
Upon Cook’s galley
And give jury
To the captain’s story
And his testimony
For an age old tragedy
‘Twas a travesty
We all can agree
Of what came to be
On a sandy beach
In sunny Hawaii
In the Eighteenth Century
But Cook was guilty
Of a foul felony
On an earlier journey
A crime against humanity
Committed against the Maori
Ancestors of Aki and Riki
And their contemporaries
It tainted his glory
And place in history
Cook was very sorry
For this sad story
This was Cook’s testimony
As heard by the jury
“From our anchor at sea
We made our sortie
To the island's lee
There to greet me
Was what I believed
To be a war party
Painted faces saw we
And a dance of savagery
Of utter barbarity
A conclusion came to me
That it could only be
The work of devilry
As I could see
The men in my party
Commence to flee”
“T’was for thee!”
Cried Riki
From the gallery
“Dance did we
To honor thee!”
Said the Maori
“I did not see,”
Cook did plea
“Your ceremony
Was beyond me
To me it seemed
Like you Maori
Were going to spree
Into butchery
Killing all of we
In our landing party
That’s what I believed”
“So as you see
From this testimony
What made me
Shoot the Maori”
Said he
Who was to be
Honored in history
For giving his liege
Supremacy
Over the high seas
Cook turned to me
And said silently
That he believed
That now we
Had their sympathy
And that we
Would have amnesty
“I have no pity
For thee!”
Said Aki
“It is all to me
But chicanery
And a travesty
To our ancestry
Don’t you plea
For any amnesty
For you’ll receive
None from me”
“I agree!”
Concurred Riki
And other Maori
In the jury
Upon that galley
Resting at sea
“There cannot be
Any revisionary
Undocumented history”
Pronounced the jury
“So say we
And so we decree
That Cook shall be
Villified for his felony
And he is to be
The face of the enemy
For eternity
To we Maori
And that so he
Be cast in memory
And any poetry
For his piracy
And his villainy”
Cook sighed to me
“I expected no leniency
And with modesty
I say to thee
Learn from me
That expediency
Eats one’s decency
You cannot see
All in momentary
Flashes to thee
You cannot be
A visionary
Instantaneously
Take time to be
The best you can be
Take it from me”
Said Cook to me
Then he left me
And the Maori
Stepping off the galley
And into the sea
And back into history
And into infamy
For Aki and Riki
But for me
I would always see
Majesty
In his captaincy
He would always be
The Master of the Sea
That was Cook to me
And regrettably
His advice to me
Was lost to folly
For you see
I too hark from history
Twas on the Bounty
I gained my infamy
When a mutiny
Cast me on the sea
But the Maori
Aki and Riki
Would not believe
My story
They said to me
I suffer from insanity
I was delusionary
And hallucinatory
All my testimony
About a rally
Was pure fantasy
I leave it to thee
To object or agree
With this allegory
Was it imaginary
The work of fancy
Or was there veracity
Of a great rally
Between Chicoutimi
And Koutenay
Was Cook with me
On this journey
Or was he
At the bottom of the sea
In a past century
And never likely
To be with me
I leave it up to thee
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