Poem 4
Olive Rabedew
1895-1911
Trudy and I both knew
Both knew and experienced
The voracious vertigo of secret love.
Homework was done together
In the soft lamplight
Of crisp autumn nights.
Plaid ginghams were sewn together
In the wilting afternoon sunlight
Of long forgotten summer days.
Hand-held strolls were surreptitiously taken
In the forbidden fields, and
In the concealed canyons.
Pursed caresses were exchanged
In the innocent dooryards, and
In the curious kitchens
Behind closed oaken doors.
But our Lord decreed in 1911
That our love would desist.
That our intense times together
Would terminate for eternity.
Trudy dearest, let it be known now:
True love is a blossoming tree
Which yields many kinds of fruit.
Our harvest together then,
Is our legacy, Our last
And final stand for freedom.
Categories:
ginghams, best friend, crush, death,
Form: Epitaph
As a faithful mate she'd followed
When he vowed to tame the West.
There her life had not been easy.
She had done her very best.
Though the loneliness was endless
When he led the nomad life
Of a cattle trailing cowboy,
She was still his patient wife.
Far from genteel East and doctors,
She had just ignored the pain.
He found this short note beside her
When he came back home again.
Lay me not in mausoleum
Entombed in an airless cave.
Bury me upon the prairie
Let a field stone mark my grave.
I was never much for grandeur,
Simple ginghams mine to wear.
Dress me not in silks and satins
Just to see me lying there.
Bury me upon the prairie,
Which so long has been my home.
Bury me among the wildflowers
Where so often I would roam.
Until wakened for the judgement
By the trumpets up above,
Let me lie in sweet surrender
To the West I've learned to love.
Won 6th place in Cowboy poetry contest
For Deborah's Cowboy contest. Won 6th place
Categories:
ginghams, cowboy-westernme, me,
Form: Rhyme