The unhappy bride

Inspiration from unexpected sources - The Unhappy Bride

You can often be inspired by seeing something unexpected,  out of the norm. In this case it was a series of photographs taken of a woman wearing a bridal gown standing outside a locked church, walking by a river,  and finally wallowing in the mud,  ruining her dress.  It made me wonder about her back story, and i came up with this poem,  written in a ballad form reminiscent of the days when I used to go to a folk club.  The ballad form is written in verses of 4 lines,  with 8 syllables in lines 1 and 3, 7 syllables in lines 2 and 4, and a rhyme scheme of abab.

The girl is young,  she meets a man
Who tells her that he loves her
They meet at night,  whene'er they can
He soon becomes her lover.

Oh sailor boy,  stay by my side
Don't leave me here to moulder
Please say that I can be your bride
Before the moon gets older.

The man agrees,  to keep her sweet,
Meaning just to bed her
The day comes round,  he fails to meet
Her at the church to wed her.

Oh sailor boy, where have you gone?
She hopes with love to bind him
Down to the coast her heart forlorn
She tries her best to find him.

She meets his friend,  "your sailor boy
Has gone" he says,  "forever"
The day that started with her joy
Becomes her worst day ever.

Oh sailor boy,  you've broke my heart,
She flings his ring far from her
It sinks down in the foul dark mud
And there will stay forever.


© Copyright 2018. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved.




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