TO LOVE WHILE DYING

 

“She had not made a decision to give up sex, only the clamor of romance, because it was exhausting her, doing her no good and too much harm….”

 

“If I could but know his heart, everything would become easy.”

 

He stood close, looking at me.

“Do you want me to kiss you?” he asked.  “If you don’t I shall die.  And when they find my bones still upright, they will wonder what it was that made me stand and wait for something that would kill me.”  Jean Bush

 

One day, when he and I were busy saving me from disaster, he suddenly gathered me in his arms and I got into trouble all over again.    Jean Bush

 

It’s dangerous to try and pick up a wild thing; it will claw you and bleed you before leaping away.  But if you can hold it still long enough to kiss it, it will bring good luck all the rest of your life.    Jean Bush

YOUR LEAD

By Jean Bush

 

For Eric

 

 

 

 

You lead, I follow.

Tripping beside your dancing step;

One quiet embrace covering my life,

Wrapped in wonder.

The stillness of you leaves me

Unmoving, like a rock.

 

Hanging in your arms over the abyss

Like from a cliff with one finger.

You glance away and I am gone……

Falling forever.

 

 



THE SLAVE MAKER

By Jean Bush

You slithering obsession;

You creeping vine, wrapped round progressive centuries,

Til kings and rebels and dreaming men

Become as lackeys, 

Following  your trailing, withered leaves.

You visit men in midst of night.

Your comely form mirrors fates unbidden to light of day.

Rise up - - Oh Men!

But you, sheathed in shimmering sensation,

Beckon them to cross the barren edge….

Dust to dust

And men pass on,

Ever trapped by your treacherous caress,

And words:  “Ah, such is life,”

Fall as stones from unprotesting lips.

But as men lie on Death’s rotating rim,

They quick identify you, the Victress.

THE LAST FAREWELL

 

By Jean Bush

 

 

 

Winter covers all the earth

And blows both cold and strong,

But amid the group of four of us

It’s springtime all along.

 

Hand in hand we walked the roads

That wither we may tramp;

And in the night of deep starlight

Lay down our loads to camp.

 

Four elvish friends that hard and fast

To each adventure binds,

And find that they had always been

True friends throughout all time.

 

Together we’ve run sunlit hills

Of that called Wilderland,

And fought the dragons of the North

And all the foes of man.

 

We knew one day the time would come

As we stand to great the dawn,

That each and every one of us

Must sing his lonely song.

 

Who knows if when we’ll meet again

As we go our separate ways;

 

 

And lo, here come the coaches now

To take us each away.

 

 



THE GALLOWS

By Jean Bush

 

 

 

 

A gallows stands in the midnight light;

The empty rope swings left to right.

The rotting steps stand bleak and bare

Though many feet had passed through there.

 

A shadow recalls the wretched waiting;

Of rusty bars and iron door grating.

A teeming mob and rasping cheers

And a little child who stood in tears:

“They’re taking his life, who gives them the right?”

“The people, Dear.”

 

Of a man in black and a tickle of sweat

And the feel of the noose around his neck.

The yank of the rope and the gasp of the crowd;

The thrill of the watching

And the heads that were bowed.

 

Recalling it all for the thousandth time

The morning rang out with silver chimes.

Melting away beyond the bridge,

He left us all this heritage:

 

A gallows stands in the morning light,

The empty rope swings left to right.

With death advanced in range and scope

We use much swifter means then rope.