Mary Beth

[Cyril Darkcloud]

Mary Beth

 

It’s been a long time, Mary Beth,

about twenty-five years now,

I guess.

 

And here I am sitting

and drinking

and thinking

of you.

 

Sitting.

And thinking.

And having a beer.

And running my mind

through those twenty-five years

that you never saw.

 

I prayed for you tonight, Mary Beth.

Down there on my knees

I remembered you to God.

Or maybe, just maybe, Mary Beth,

he remembered you to me.

 

And it’s funny how the simple things

are what never leave the mind

like the way I missed

the dancing of your pony tail

when you got your hair cut short,

or that way you had

of crossing your legs

and folding your arms

and pressing your lips into a pout

when someone set you off.

 

And that laugh of yours.

A little too loud,

but running so free,

like the way you’d move

so fast up and down

those staircases in our school.

 

We were never even friends.

Yet for twenty-five years

every now and then

it’s been you and me,

or maybe just me with you,

alone with time to think.

 

And I don’t know why you did it, Mary Beth.

 

All I know

is you were thirteen.

Maybe fourteen.

And feeling all alone.

And thought you’d maybe

find an answer

in your daddy’s gun.

 

And I’m thinking about you, Mary Beth.

And I hope I’m not the only one

whose got you on his mind,

who remembered you,

who prayed for you

tonight.

[Mira]

I prayed for you tonight, Mary Beth.

Down there on my knees

I remembered you to God.

Or maybe, just maybe, Mary Beth,

he remembered you to me.

The world paused for an instant after this stanza.

 

The way you feel like you know someone just because you see them every day, feel you know everything about them. Those simple things, as you put it, that bubble up without warning in the solitude of night, and force us to dream of what may have happened. That draws one to imagine where the people we once knew have gone.

 

I pray for her Cyril.

 

I don't know if the above counts as feedback, its really just what I felt and thought of after reading "Mary Beth"

[Loki Wyrd]

I don't have anything useful to add, but I just wanted to let you know that I really liked your poem. I suppose this post is more for my own benefit than yours.

Edited February 11, 2005 by Loki Wyrd

[Peredhil]

Yeah. You definitely set off chords that resonate. Well crafted Cyril.

[reverie]

Ladies and Gentleman, I submit to you Robert Frost reincarnated...

 

*stands and applauds*

 

 

rev...