Captain Cook
Captain James Cook was an explorer in the 1700s. During 1779, he had stopped at the Sandwich Islands, now the Hawaiian Islands. While the details of what happened during a skirmish with the native Hawaiians are highly debated, the result was the death of Captain Cook and several of his men. The poem below by John Rice paints a colorful portrait of one take on the events of that day.
February 14, 1779
Captain Cook was killed
today by people who loved
him, in their way. On a beach
in the Sandwich Isles
where first he’d met
with only smiles, they clubbed
him down – his back
was turned, he never saw
what love had earned.
They boiled him away
to skin and bones, polished
his skull with sacred stones
and set it
in a sacred place
with sacred leaves
and sacred flowers –
a tribute
to his godly powers.
Bones from fingers, bones
from toes, perhaps
some cartilage
from his ears and nose
were finally returned
to his English crew
for burial at sea
as they knew to do.
We give chocolate, we tell
sweet lies and rarely think
of Cook’s demise.
John E. Rice February 2013