Blackbeard and Bluebeard and Redbeard, they say,
Hijacked a ship and went sailing away.
Seaward they scudded and skipped on the breeze,
Searching for treasure to plunder and seize.

Riches, regrettably, couldn’t be found.
Ships bearing booty were nowhere around.
Therefor the buccaneers wandered afloat
thinking of things they could do with their boat.

Bluebeard said, “Aargh, since we’ve nothing to do,
Why don’t we paint our new pirate ship blue?”
Redbeard spoke up, saying, “Aye, but instead,
wouldn’t ye rather we painted her red?”

Blackbeard said, “Blimey, you’re both off the track.
No other color’s as handsome as black.”
“Blue!” shouted Bluebeard, and Redbeard yelled “Red!”
Blackbeard said, “Black! You’re both cracked in the head!”

Redbeard grabbed brushes and buckets and paints
Over his shipmates insistent complaints.
Rather than letting him paint the ship red,
They got some blue paint and black paint instead.

Swiftly the three of them painted their boat,
Each a completely dissimilar coat,
Making a color not red, black or blue;
Mixing, instead, an entirely new hue.

That was the last that was seen of the three
Simply because they refused to agree.
They weren’t torpedoed or shelled or harpooned.
They disappeared, for their ship was marooned.