The Courting

THE COURTING



When thunder blasts the firmament

And foul clouds pall the stars

And fitful moon peers through the trees

As if through prison bars,

Where roads are lone

And ways are dark

There Bill's bare bones

Go walking stark.



Springing from an abandoned lane

Through a dense woods blasted boles

Under a rusty ruinous bridge

Green pestilent water rolls.

Under that span

Her coffin sank

And so Marie

Goes walking dank.



And sometimes, at the worst of times

When ill stars rule the skies

And awful omens stalk abroad

And the night air's full of cries,

Bill and Marie

Sometimes will meet

To dance till dawn

On bony feet.



--Bryan Babel.