If Ghosts Could Lie

He stood at the end of the pier that day

In hopes that they’d ask him on,

But Marilyn had just sailed away

With his elder brother, John.

He stood and scoured the horizon till

The sun went down in the west,

Then turned and wended his way back home

Though he’d get but little rest.

 

He tossed and turned for an hour or so

But he couldn’t get to sleep,

Then crept on out of his bed, he thought

He might take a little peep,

For out of his bedroom window there

The sea shone under the Moon,

The surface calm as a millpond as

He fell back into his room.

 

And his dreams that night were turbid dreams,

Obscured like a murky pond,

Where he couldn’t see the half of it

Viewed through the slough of despond,

Had he lost the only love he had,

And the brother he loved so well?

The morning dawned on a sudden storm,

And the sea, with a giant swell.

 

There wasn’t a sail on the sea that day,

There wasn’t a boat at all,

The yacht was found all smashed around

The end of the stone sea wall.

They said there wasn’t a soul aboard

Whoever there’d been was gone,

He didn’t know who he mourned the most,

His Marilyn, or his John.

 

John came to him in his sleep that night

With his eyes all brimming with tears,

‘I shouldn’t have taken her out, despite

I’d loved the woman for years.

But don’t blame her, it was only me,

For she made it plain that day,

She’d only come for a friendly sail,

And then she pushed me away.’

 

And Marilyn came to his dream as well

With the seaweed caught in her hair,

‘I shouldn’t have gone with your brother John,

Now I’m lost beyond despair.

He said you’d come, but he sailed away,

Said, ‘just a bit of fun,’

But now I weep in the ocean’s deep,

It’s the end for everyone.’

 

They found the bodies beyond the pier,

They were floating, hand in hand,

And when they got them ashore they found

That she wore John’s wedding band.

They never appeared in his dreams again

And he thought it just as well,

If ghosts could lie, he at least could cry

As he wished them both in hell.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Lyn Croker Paget]

Well I like this one with it's twists and turns and Alf, it may not have had as much passion impact of the poor brother's dilemma, but with those devious ghosts nearly having us fooled, John's Wedding Band still clinched the impact of a punch to the ending. A lesson on Expecting the unexpected.

[TPK Stories]

A tragic twist...and a fateful ending...well written David.

[MomzillaNC]

Another brilliant and tragically twisted ending. You write so many of that twisted ending kind of tales, you’d expect not all of them to be brilliant. But, I’ve yet to read one that wasn’t pure genius.

[Avinash]

Lying ghosts do come in dreams because they did not learn their lessons to reform and they will continue to dwell like than until they are dispatched to their next destination as you mentioned "Hell".

[R Smith]

seems they got their just reward for their duplicity, another example of how to tell a wild tale in great poetry, just love all these stories you find in that brilliant mind of yours David, well done :)

[andrew mitchell]

Hi David I loved the tale of the sea the seaweed in her hair and the twist was great with that last line to finish it off. Great tale

[Marie]

Well. I didn't think it was possible for gosts to lie. I mean, why should they? Obviously, he wasn't going to kill them...

[Confuser]

David: What a killer ending. Your imagination is like a tsuani in its power. I love it all; the way you weaved this poem with such beautiful imagery of the sea, tainted now through betrayal. I could feel a troubled sense persecution coming, building in each stanza through your well thought out rich descriptions. I am a fan!
And his dreams that night were turbid dreams,
Obscured like a murky pond,
Where he couldn’t see the half of it
Viewed through the slough of despond,
Thank you so very much dear poet. Dale

[Valentine]

A wedding at sea? I think not. They had to have snuck away long before and just not had the guts to tell the brother. In my family we would call them, "Sneaky Petes." Valentine

[ANTO]

I feel guilty chuckling about two poor souls off to Hades but there you have it David. Thats your fault. lol

What a brilliant concept - that they can lie - that crossing over changes nothing. It turns the image of the tortured soul, who is condemned to wander the Earth for sins committed in corporeal form, on its head. They can still be devious, just as they were when solid lol.
Real cool DLP.
anto
:))