It took him a decade
To face his ghostly past
And tear away the facade
Underwhich he had hid ten years last
A dusty winding road along the hill
Took him to a merry little town
Where once he had set foot
As an uncouth youth of nineteen
With unshaven face and dusty boots
Wind toussled hair and fadedwell worn clothes
He had at once been judged by the folks
As a reckless fool of a youth
But soon all this was to change for he,
Got himself entagled in the perilous web called love
A gentleman was born then
With clean shaven face, shiny black boots
Clean new clothes and politest of manner
She was a flaxen-haired beauty of seventeen
Whose blood red lips and gold flecked eyes
Squeezed the youth's heart afresh
Putting him in sweet agony
As was his custom he tossed a red rose
To the widows's lovely daughter
Who stood waiting at her balcony each night
Gifting him her tenderest smile
She melted into the shadows with his precious rose
His heart and soul singing a joyous song
To his home he rode on his black stallion
Everything around him seeming beautiful
The soft cool breeze ruffling his thick black hair
Thoughts of her filled him night and day
And he toiled earnestly in the fields
To make a home befitting his lovely queen
One night he found no beauty
Awaiting him upon her balcony
His sorrow turned into rage in an instant
Hearing the laughter and many voice within
Bursting in he saw his love
Embracing a man whose voice he'd heard
Blinded by fury he drew his gun and fired
The aim which was true pierced the heart
Killing his rival in the hands of the golden eyed beauty
"Oh father!", whispered his queen
A scant second before dropping her long lost
Father's lifeless body on the floor
She then fell unconscious in shock of her nightmare
Her mother now twice widowed
Let out a heart wrenching scream
That jolted the youth to reality
And to the magnitude of his mistake
He fled then, knowing the fate that awaited him
On he rode for days and nights
Until his stallion gave in to fatigue and died
Putting as much distance possible between himself and the town
Ten years he worked and lived
In town after town
Finding no peace nor joy
Haunted by his deeds his black past
Each night he awoke drenched in sweat
Seeing the same nightmare every night
Driven to the brink of insanity
He struggled to get through each day
And then one fine morning finding atlast
His long lost courage and reckless nature,
He rode back the lonely winding road
One last time to face the demons of his past
He dreaded recognition
But found none because of his
Long beard and and ragged clothes
Enquiring about his love
He atlast found his way
To where she now rested
Under a black granite slab
Beside her parents in the cemetery
Removing his hat he fell to his knees
Bowing low his head in grief and pain
Tears finally coursed down his face
Dripping onto his love
Seeking forgiveness for what he had done
Ten years back in wave of blind fury.........
