There once was a dark, steamy alley
As the story has often been told...
That was frequented by frightful pirates
Often smelly, crusty and old...
Jean Lafitte and his many pirates
Used this alley to sell their wares...
They paid off the local police
To move their booty without any cares...
Since the adjacent building known as the Cabildo
Housed the local corrupt City Hall...
Where many a crooked politician
Would so often come to call...
The pirates and their politicians
Traded peacefully among one another...
Which offered a very nice living
For Jean, and also Pierre, his big brother...
The local jail was located in the alley
Where his partner, pirate Pierre...
Who was alway drunk and disorderly
Would often end up punished in there...
After breaking Pierre out
Of the old Spanish calaboose...
The Lafitte boys and their pirates
Would pack up and quickly vamoose...
It is said that a secret meeting
Was held between Lafitte and Andrew Jackson...
Where together they discussed a plan
To defeat the British for all their taxin...
Lafitte would supply his pirates,
His artillery and swamp expertise...
All designed to help General Jackson’s army
Bring the powerful British to their knees...
After the Battle of New Orleans was fought
And General Jackson’s army had finally won...
Was when the General formally acknowledged
Jean Lafitte’s pirates, and an Ursuline nun...
It was also said that William Faulkner
Rented a secluded flat there, in late 1925...
It’s where his story ‘Soldier’s Pay’
Would eventually be written and come alive...
In 1830, it became a cobblestoned alley
As it is still to this very day...
It’s also known as the alley
Where Morgus the Magnificent was rumored to play...
So in 1964, to finally make permanent
What had long been already claimed...
The famous street “Pirates Alley”
Became officially what is was named...
So whether you’re walking on Pirates Alley
In the early morning or late at night...
If you see the ghost of a pirate
Say “Hello, Jean Lafitte” instead of running in fright...
© 2020 Jeffrey Pipes Guice