On The Shore

It's a ghastly tale
Of a man who set sail
Alone on his wedding night.
A legend in its own right.

He was never to be seen
By his widow of eighteen
Who cried by her window.
Her heart full of sorrow.

She cried out his name
The answer always the same.
She called for him night and day,
But the sea silenced her prey.

A man came knocking, old and wise,
Plainly the devil in disguise.
Hearing of the widow's plight
Told he could help her that very night.

A virgin soul he could steal.
Granted the widow agreed to the deal.
She pleaded and begged from her knees
To free her lover from the deadly seas.

Sated by the reward she would pay,
Her soul would not see another day.
Little did she know, this to be true.
The Devil spoke, as only devils do:

"At midnight, in the moon's glow,
A silhouette shall appear below.
He shall be standing by the shore
Call his name, three times, no more."

She waited for the stroke of midnight
All the while, the moon so bright.
Time after time she gazed at the shore
Each glance, nothing as the one before.

At the midnight hour as was foretold,
Stood a silhouette tall and bold.
She ran out of the house towards the shore.
She called out his name, three times, no more.

She stopped as the dark figure stood still.
Then came an odor, so vile and ill.
She was still too far to make out a face.
Her walk stiffened to a slower pace.

Clouds now blocking the moon's rays,
She walked in the dark, in a daze.
Couldn't imagine what she would find.
Hope and fear battled in her mind.

He had his back to her, facing the sea.
He stood there, immobile like a tree.
Silent, not a breath, not a word.
Only the splash of the sea, to be heard.

She wants to see him face to face.
He, whose kiss she can still taste.
It has been a long time, a long wait,
Now she has to confront her fate.

Above, the clouds give way to the moon,
Timing couldn't have come too soon.
There stood a dressed skeletal remain.
Horrified, she cried out his name.

Out from the sleeves of his coat,
Boney fingers wrap around her throat.
Stunned in horror, frozen by fear,
Strangled by whom she had loved so dear.

Come morning, her body was found.
Going rumor was told, she drowned.
The love for her man, hard to hide.
She followed him to sea, a suicide.