Isle of the Dead

He’d lain off the island just a week,

It was really only a reef,

That thrust up out of the waters

Ninety miles from Tenerife.

It didn’t show up on a local map

And he thought he’d heard it said,

‘Be sure, if you think of sailing west

That you miss the Isle of the Dead.’

 

On the higher part was a grove of trees

He explored when he went ashore,

And hidden deep in the foliage was

A house, not seen before.

It was made of wood, and covered in vines

That acted as camouflage,

It couldn’t be seen ‘til you came up close,

And stood with the door ajar.

 

He thought it must be deserted, though

A garden was weeded out,

And then, as he had approached the door

He was pulled up short, by a shout.

‘Who’s this, who enters my private grounds,

Who’s this, who plays with my head?

We never have visitors here, you know,

For this is the Isle of the Dead!’

 

He turned, was facing a sprightly girl

With a mass of auburn hair,

She wore a costume of paw paw leaves

That had made him stand and stare,

Her eyes reflected the brightest blue

Of the ocean, out in the bay,

And her mouth affected the slightest pout

As he wondered what to say.

 

A woman came through the cottage door

And she said, ‘Come in, Narreen,

We never talk to the strangers, for

You don’t know where they’ve been.’

Her manner was quite unfriendly as

She gestured to the shore,

‘You’d better be making way, my friend,’

Then shut the makeshift door.

 

He slept on his vessel every night

But he came ashore at dawn,

Hoping to get the briefest sight

Of the girl, for his heart was torn.

He hesitated to call it love

But it grew, each time he saw,

Her figure appear from the grove of trees,

Or saunter along the shore.

 

She finally came to talk to him

And squatted to hear him tell,

Tales of the wondrous world out there

Of jewels and gold as well,

Her eyes grew brighter with every tale

And he said, ‘You should come with me,

We’ll sail on the balmy Autumn swell

And you’ll see the world for free.’

 

Her sister came to the beach one day

And she took the girl back home,

‘I think that it’s time you sailed away,

We haven’t the need to roam.’

But he came ashore the following day

And he lured the girl to his boat,

She seemed surprised at the size of it

And the fact that it could float.

 

He tried to sooth, as he raised the sail

‘We’ll just go out for a spin,’

But she was suddenly nervous, and

She asked that they go back in.

He thought that he’d made the girl his own

As they sailed from the bay, at last,

But then he noticed the withered crone

Who clung, in death, to the mast!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[roarke]

Interesting title, Isle of the Dead... as I read this piece, the foreshadowing was there, but I started seeing it as Isle of unrequited love... fragile, proud, curious, warming.... until the vessel sailed.... If I were a smart man, and I like to think I am... I'd say the captain found his treasure and should have spent the rest of his days on the Isle.... sometimes the whole world and all it's riches can't offer what brightens a mere reef... but, then, that's just me....dug it David.

[TPK Stories]

Another interesting tale as always David....

[Barbz]

The Isle of the Dead was what I read, and I knew where we were going, There'd never be forevermore in the Sail the wind was blowing.......David Lewis Paget...Art at his Wit, lip and fingertip

[Marie]

This put's me in mind of James Hilton's "Lost Horizon". I know what gwas gonig to happen as soon as he put that girl on his boat and sailed away from the island. It just couldn't have been any other way.

[Avinash]

This is not the eventuality our protagonist might be expecting. Her life was bound to the Island, he should have known. Does make it memorable tale romantic tragedy.

[R Smith]

I was getting nervous towards the end it was coming quick and i could not see the catch but sure enough you don't let us down and it happened in that very last 2 lines, reminds me of the Ronald Colman movie about Shangri La when his buddy tries to escape with the girl he'd fallen for, only for her to turn to bones when they left the valley for the snowy mountains. Another work of art from you David, are a master storyteller, great writing as always :)

[MomzillaNC]

I knew it was coming. I knew some macabre twist was in the offing. It still took me by surprise!

[Indestructible Books]

Yes! Islands, sailing, boats, and creepy houses... love it!
- Skye