a/n: this is a response to a Hallowe'en challenge from the "Black Pearl" forum, and is set shortly before the events of the first film.

Many thanks to Zaydee for her excellent beta-reading, and to Ennui Enigma and MapleleafCameo for feedback.

Dedicated to two good friends who enjoy this ghostly season...Stutley Constable and Nytd.

I own no aspect of Pirates of the Caribbean.

And I am very fond of the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and his rhyme patterns:-)

Shadowed sails.

Dead of night, and moonlight glinting, chill and pale on wave crests tinting

All it touches cold, bone white as shadowed sails approach the shore.

Shadowed sails, dark rigged, are nearing, scarred and flesh-stripped hands are steering;

Sending every man, God fearing, stumbling home to bolt each door;

Trembling as the sails draw closer, hushed behind each bolted door.

Pirates cursed for evermore.

~0~

Shadowed sails, black pearled, are furling, waters deep and dark are swirling;

Battered boats are striking out to reach the swiftly emptied shore.

Eyes behind locked doors are staring, haunted souls touch land, all sharing

Deathless Aztec curse, unsparing; drawn to what's behind one door.

One more piece of Aztec gold is lost behind a bolted door.

Pirates search for evermore.

~0~

Damned and deathless blind persistence; sweeping on past all resistance;

Nothing halts this single-minded hunt for what they lost before.

Call from Aztec gold compelling ghostly search through street, past dwelling;

Townsfolk wait, no hope of telling what this horde is hunting for.

Children sense their parent's dread and wonder what they tremble for.

Peace has fled for evermore.

~0~

Every home with fear is threaded, something otherworldly dreaded;

Every eye is fixed upon the horde approaching from the shore.

Watching them, yet not believing horrors far beyond conceiving;

Is the moonlit night deceiving? None has seen the like before.

Godless, fleshless, nightmare creatures. Never seen such men before.

Souls condemned for evermore.

~0~

Shadows in the darkest places, flesh returns to forms and faces,

Melting back to whitened bone as moonlight finds its path once more.

Men despair as courage shatters, sense dissolves and reason scatters.

All which seemed so sure, in tatters; fervent prayers behind each door.

Streets are filled with ghostly figures, shadows flit from door to door.

Shadows flitting evermore.

~0~

Breath is held when shadows linger, windows scraped by bony finger,

Latches lifted up and rattled, icy chill round every door.

Through the lanes and streets are flowing fleshless wraiths, undead, unknowing;

All may wonder where they're going, why they left that moonlit shore.

Whispers of a Black Pearled legend, shadowed sails beyond the shore.

Sails in shadow evermore.

~0~

Moonlight skims the town, unbidden, strikes a lonely farmhouse hidden

Up beyond the streets and houses, furthest from the ghost claimed shore.

Doors are bolted, all are praying; conscious of the drama playing

Out below them, all are paying for the sins which went before.

Never felt such creeping terror, never prayed so hard before.

Can their prayers last evermore?

~0~

Shadowed movements now diminished, has this dark invasion finished?

Are those heartless souls retreating back towards that moonlit shore?

Silent vigil...hope is spreading, broken by the sight they're dreading;

Gathered shadows all now heading up towards the farmhouse door.

Only sound is panicked breathing, eyes fixed fast upon the door.

Shadows nearing evermore.

~0~

Father looks at weeping mother, lifts up daughter, hugs her brother;

Bundles both down cellar steps, the slab is closed upon the floor.

Husband holds his wife more tightly, moonbeams reaching tears shine brightly,

Bolt and latch are moving slightly; something lurks outside their door.

Close embrace and whispered words, as something thuds against their door.

Whispered words last evermore.

~0~

Breath is held and blood is frozen, dreading what the Fates have chosen;

Flitting shadows circle round to guard each window, hatch, and door.

Rush of air; an axe is wielded. Splintered wood as door bolt yielded,

Wife by husband's sword is shielded, feet seem rooted to the floor.

Door flung wide, a pirate captain smiles across the kitchen floor.

Deathless gaze chills evermore.

~0~

Childhood tales and superstition, none can match this apparition

Standing in the open doorway, moonlight reaching in once more;

Where it strikes the captain, flaying layers from skin to skull, displaying

Tattered flesh on bone, decaying; living death, unseen before.

Farmhouse fills with shadowed figures, horrors never seen before.

Horror lasts for evermore.

~0~

Skirmish follows, swift and deadly; pirate's sword is gleaming redly;

Husband's body lies unmoving, sprawled across the bloodstained floor.

Wife, held fast, stares down, unspeaking; tears and blood and dust are streaking

Down her face, while wraiths are seeking what they caused such terror for.

Widow cannot understand what prize they might be searching for.

Loss endures for evermore.

~0~

All is chaos, lost and broken; one specific fear, unspoken;

Sword hilt down, the captain slowly taps his way from farmhouse door.

Mother hides the dread she's feeling, precious children still concealing;

Captain calls for silence, kneeling down upon the stone-slabbed floor.

Only sound is stifled sobbing, just beneath the kitchen floor.

Mother's fear lasts evermore

~0~

Throat is dry, and tears are stinging; ears with childrens' sobs are ringing.

Now at last she thinks she knows what prize the horde is searching for

Casts off all restraints, unheeding; kneels upon the floor, eyes pleading;

Captor and his captive needing what's beneath the kitchen floor.

Seeing, as the slab is raised, the cellar steps beneath the floor.

Throat stays dry for evermore.

~0~

Heart won't slow, nor hands stop shaking; conscious of the risk she's taking,

Soothingly, she calls her children, up towards the cellar door.

Arms embracing both, imploring all to give her time, ignoring

Ghostly shadowed figures, drawing close across the stone-slabbed floor.

Shifting so they cannot see their father on the blood-stained floor.

Moment lasts for evermore.

~0~

Love for two small souls, undying; cord around son's neck, untying;

Wearily she holds aloft the item they've been searching for.

Holds aloft a tarnished treasure, won at cards, that fleeting pleasure

Cancelled out beyond all measure now she knows its fatal flaw.

Widow views the coin with loathing, now she knows its deadly flaw.

Damns the coin for evermore.

~0~

Coin is grasped by bony fingers, moonlight wraps around it, lingers,

Falls upon the silent horde, a path lit pale across the floor.

Flesh and fleshless, light and shading; ancient Aztec curse pervading;

All that made them human, fading ten long joyless years before.

All so bitterly regretting choices made ten years before.

Choices last for evermore.

~0~

Pirate captain spurns all pleading, hope of mercy, fast receding;

Sword raised high, soon, three more souls, will bleed upon the kitchen floor.

Driven forces give no quarter, wife shrinks back, with son and daughter...

Then...an Aztec coin hits water, heads all turn towards the shore.

Echoes of the last coin calling, from a new, far distant shore.

Coins call out for evermore.

~0~

Sword falls back as heads are turning, urgent, bone-deep, wordless yearning;

Cannot stop the last coin calling, from a new, far distant shore.

Moonbeams paint the path, unfailing, silvered ghostly light, now paling,

Past the silent town, and trailing down towards the waiting shore.

Captain and his deathless crewmen, drawn towards the waiting shore.

Shadowed sails wait evermore.

~0~

Shadowed black pearled sails, unfurling; waters deep and dark are swirling

Captain and his wretched crewmen, trail towards the empty shore.

Battered farmhouse door is swinging, mother and her children clinging

Tight together, mother singing words she's never sung before.

Ancient Aztec songs of mourning, words she's never heard before.

Aztec curse lasts evermore.

~0~