The Heights and Valleys of Emily Jane

Once upon a time there was
A young and sanguine lady
Full of curiosity, of dreams
So wonderfully gamy.

After the Sunday church she sat
Down at the davenport,
Lord Byron placed upon her bed;
Strucking her inner chords.

“Gondal, you´re mine!” she then exclaimed,
In glee and ardent cheer,
Her cloud horse lustred whilst she rode
On landscapes, quaint and queer.

She shook her wilful curlyhead,
Her fountain pen danced wildly,
Compulsively, her mind unwrapped
Characters, fierce and shiny.

Emily´s siblings, they joined in
Her burning wish to hasten
To offer, for short life at least,
Their visions full of passion.

Alas! Haworth was haunted soon,
(As every winter season)
By illness and austerity
Again…oh! for what reason?

At night, when she was kept awake
With asphyxiated coughing,
She wondered how they could preserve
Their fellowship, their laughing.

“Please stay with me, my young Catherine,”
She mumbled in the darkness
“Heathcliff is roaming down the moors,
Despite the season´s harshness.”

But when, for ultimate remedy,
There´s only boiling water,
How shall a mortal soul keep trust
In God, the Holy Father?

“Why must Thou call us now”? she asked
“Our time has not yet come!
We didn´t get to know the taste
Of love under the sun.

And thousand thousand tales untold
Are kindling in my breast!
And thousand thousand hidden lyres
Are sounding in my chest!”

But death don´t ask man when it´s due
Her pleas, they were in vain.
In bloom of youth, she lost her life
Her day dreams still remain.

**************

Alice Mc Duff ~ January 3rd, 2007

Inspired by the life and lyrical work of the great Novelist and Poetess Emily Jane Brontë;
see The Complete Poems of Emily Jane Brontë, ed. Clement Shorter and http://www.poetseers.org/the_great_poets/british_poets/emily_bronte_poems

A contribution to the Januar 2007 Poetry Competition on Poetry Junction´s ~ The Poet´s Forum on the topic: POET