“News-stand”

ObjectWriting.com word-of-the-day: “News-stand”

“News-stand”

I awoke this morning to a beautiful face.
Then she vanished before me without a trace.
Then what I saw, in her face’s place,
was the gift she gave me with such loving grace.

It was my ring on the  table, shining brightly in the sun.
Just like the morning we met and I knew her to be the one.
She had come to my news-stand, just looking around,
not for magazines… for something  that cannot be found.

She looked up at me and I down at her.
“Can I help you find something Ma‘am?”, I lowered my voice.
“I really don’t know what brought me here, Sir.”
“Perhaps, it was our fate… not a choice.”

She blushed just like on our wedding day.
As the ring slid on her finger, a tear slid down her cheek.
And still now, I mourn her every day,
and no other love shall I ever seek.

2007 ©  L.J.B.

“Gretchen Anne Wilder” (Epitaph)

“Gretchen Anne Wilder” (Epitaph)
Born: April 7, 1923
Died: February 22, 1937

I was born on a rainy night. Father did not attend my birth. Mother had told me he was sleeping the whole time. Father was a drinker. Mother covered for him a lot. She doesn’t have to anymore. Father died from drinking too much when I was just eleven. I was happy that mother and I were on our own after Father’s passing. Mother taught me many useful things like cooking, sewing, gardening, and picking the ripest, juiciest berries to bake pies and make jams with. Mother was my mentor and my best friend. She was always there for me, up until she came down with pneumonia. For weeks in December and January of 1935, I took care of Mother, the house, and the land. I would read to Mother at night to help her sleep. Charles Dickens was her favorite. She just had me read “Child’s Dream Of A Star” over and over. I had it memorized after the first three times I read it. I was always good at remembering things.
When Mother died on January 30, 1935, I felt as if I could not go on. Mother was all I had. It was very difficult to keep up with the house and the land then. In desperation, I agreed to marry Mister Jonathan Abernathy. He was 32 years my senior. We married on March 26, 1935. By May that year I was pregnant with our first child. Mary-Elizabeth Abernathy was born on January 30, 1936…… the anniversary of Mother’s death. It was such a sad day. Being a mother at age thirteen was no picnic. Mister had hired help for me though. Still, I missed being a child so very much.
I knew from the day Mary-Elisabeth was born that she wasn’t right. She didn’t look or act like the other, normal children. She was very slow to develop. Her face was fat and her eyes slanted and always looking in varied directions. She couldn’t lift her head, or make any noise other than a grunt.  Mary-Elizabeth had colic all the time. Maybe she was in pain from whatever illness she had. Mister would never fetch a doctor though.
Mister was not a nice man at all. Yes he did provide the basic necessities, but he was emotionally distant, physically abusive, and demanded I perform my wifely duties several time a day. If I protested he would take off his belt, bend me over his knee and whip me. I rarely protested. Mister always seemed to be angry with me. Moments before he took my life, he told me why he’d been so angry. Not only had I had a baby girl instead of a boy to carry on his name, but the child was “broken”. Mister said I had evil things inside my womb that made the child this way.
With Mary-Elizabeth in my arms, Mister got closer and closer as he screamed at me. His face was red, his fists clenched and spit was flying from his mouth, hitting my face. Behind me I could feel the railing of the third floor balcony. I knew, and I think Mary-Elizabeth knew as well. This was the end, the end of our suffering. I felt Mister’s hands against my chest, pushing me and my baby girl over the balcony. In the seconds before we hit the ground, I thought to myself, “Thank you God, it’s finally over.”

2005 © L.J.B.

“A Lifetime Journey Ahead” (Traditional Sestina)

“A Lifetime Journey Ahead” (Traditional Sestina)

I can see you have some what of a plan in mind.
To make major changes of the permanent kind.
To have a wife and daughter; and extended family
Have love, hope, and faith. Together in harmony.
Grow to be the man you wish, each and every day.
Keep your promises, and seek God’s help along the way

Incase you didn’t know, I’ll miss you, by the way.
I will always have memories of you in my mind.
Like when we went to Barnes & Noble that day.
And read aloud, books of  the mean, silly, and kind.
I will remember that you wanted harmony.
For me, my soul, and my whole family.

You already have some what of an extended family.
Their advice and beliefs are in the front of your mind.
You want so desperately, to be with them in  harmony.
I know you have the drive to find your own personal  way.
God will help you with changes of this kind.
Just remember to pray to Him every day.

I pray that sun shine in your life every single day.
I pray that you will hold on dearly to your family.
I pray that you will stay wise and be kind.
I pray you will never again lose your way.
I pray that God and your family will be first in your mind.
I pray for you, my friend, a life of love and harmony.

Although there will be bumps in the road to harmony.
You have the strength to deal with them day by day.
Picture your happiness in your mind.
Look for support from your family.
I know great things are about to come your way.
Beautiful things of the significant kind.

Love and respect your wife; life will be generous and kind.
May your union be blessed by God and forever live in harmony.
What ever trouble that may come to you along the way,
remember to look to your partner, for comfort through each day.
For one is extremely blessed, to have the love of an entire family.
May tender, loving thoughts, never leave your mind.

I wish you the best in every way, and luck of every kind.
I wish you a serene mind and a life of harmony.
I wish that every day for you and your soon to be, family.

“Dagger”

“Dagger”

The winds bring a whisper.
A voice in my head.
Makes images sharper, than
The knife from which I bled.
Past my ears the wind blows
As I drift in and out.
Quietly losing consciousness
Berating myself, the wrong that I’ve done.
A fight with my conscience, I have not won.
Had I been thinking all of my life?
Or just living it, hoping things would go right.
No one is around,
I have run them all off.
“Don’t bother that witch
as she dies in the woods” they scoff.
“She deserves every bit of agony and pain,
her skin and her sins washed away by acidic rain”
My soul does not leave, as I decompose,
It must live in torment forever, that I’ll always know.
The sorrow I caused and would have caused again,
Had I not taken the plunge, with the dagger……..
from here on to be known as, my friend.