Wicked Women

Mary Hallett: The Witch of Wellfleet

I fell in love with Bellamy
The textbooks call him Sam
He sailed across the oceans vast
A pirate on the lam

But once he was my lover dear
A darling sailor boy
A prince of pirates far and near
Of all in his employ

He made a fortune robbing ships
To one day set me free
But oceans are quite wily beasts
He could not tame the sea

Just like Teach and Vane and Kidd
My Black Sam he did fall
And I was left alone and damned
No knowledge of his haul

The townsfolk labeled me a witch
A pirate's widowed bride
But I was not the scheming crone
Those wagging tongues did lie

If I had known his buried gold
Was somewhere lost at sea
I would have made a run for it
And searched through the debris

Alas, I knew naught of his gold
But still I held his heart
And all the gossip papers cried
To tear my limbs apart

And all because I loved a boy
Who left me with the tide
To waltz with Jack Tar in the depths
Of water where he died

They came for me one lonesome night
Before the gleaming dawn
They hauled me to a hangman's tree
To string up as a pawn

But I was not the witch they claimed
No, I was something worse
And so, I blinked my bleary eyes
And slapped them with a curse

"To all who labeled me a witch
And shipped my Sam to sea
I hope you die a grizzly death
And God ignores your plea

And as you stare into the grave
Think of me if you please
Remember that I told you first
Your care is a disease

For you care not for Sam or me
You hunger for his gold
But I have worked my spell on you
His gold you'll never hold"

The ladder lurched, my feet did kick
My vision it went black
But I would do it all again
To win my Sammy back

And still that sleepy town does talk
Of Bellamy's dark fleet
And wonder what became of me,
The vile Witch of Wellfleet