The Rose

The town's not what it once was but she still walks its street.
She always was a proud one who'd ne're admit defeat.
It began in 1860 in a mining town, the story goes.
She ran a house of comfort.  She called herself "the Rose."

One night four drunken cowboys thought they'd get it for free.
Rose put up a fight.  She fought quite valiantly
but when she broke a bottle over the leader's head
he pulled out his .45 and, in anger, shot her dead.

She lay there choking on her blood and with her dying breath
she spat a curse at them and said "Not even death
will save your souls from my revenge so live your time in fear,"
and three of them met strange fates all within a year.

Legend says that each of them died while in their beds
from "uncertain causes."  The Doctors shook their heads.
They wrote on the certificates "failure of the heart"
and never mentioned publically about the missing "parts."

No one knows for certain what became of number four.
They know he disappeared and wasn't heard from anymore.
Myself, I think he got away and escaped a grisly fate...
and she remains, still searching. Such is the power of hate.


Notes

Thank you for taking time to read my words.  Please, take a moment to leave a comment.  Criticisms, suggestions, praise - all are equally welcome.

Ken