A Troubled Soul Poem by Orlando Belo

Once again in the early hours,
I saw the tall church spires.
And walked the gravestones,
above the resting bones.

A troubled soul that once did lay,
beneath the grass, soil, and clay.
Unable to rest she decided to find,
an escape into my untroubled mind.

She promised me a life of no rest or peace,
until she could find some kind of release.
Her mind was plagued with unwanted thoughts,
that since her death she had unsuccessfully fought.

In this unexplainable darker world where time,
is not supposed to trouble the spiritual mind.
Where any torments of a once displeasing memory,
can awaken and disturb the peace of death with misery.

I desperately tried to wake and end this terrible dream,
but she was still in my mind and had begun to scream.
With no peace, forever in my mind she promised to be,
until the time when I would willingly accept and agree.

To give her complete freedom to re-live her days,
in my mind and in the most dreamlike of ways.
So, that she could go back and see once again,
her happiest times before she was struck down with pain.

She wanted to see her family and close friends,
and the happy days she used to spend.
Playing as a child and having lots of fun,
in the warm summers that were blessed with sun.

She wanted to re-visit her treasured childhood dreams,
of lemonade, buttered scones, jam, and cream.
One last push over the brook on the tree's rope swing,
before Sunday School and when the church bells ring.

Sitting on the grass threading chains of daisy flowers,
not thinking about time, but it must have been hours.
Paying keen attention and looking for any cheaters,
who took part in the game of hide and seekers.

A kissing game with boys called postman's knock,
when proudly wearing a new and pretty party frock.
A piece of chalk and hopscotch, and a rope for skipping,
and of course, don't forget the toffee apple licking.

Then at tea-time eating buttered bread by the fire,
that was toasted on the coals with a fork of wire.
She enjoyed carefully poking the coal-burning flames,
during the family's general knowledge guessing games.

She never knew about the house fire that spread,
that suffocated her whilst she slept in her bed.
She awoke in a new world, so unlike her last,
where she forever lay and yearned for her past.

With all her treasured memories captured and re-seen,
she will keep her promise and leave my dream.
In retrospect, it wasn't so unpleasant sharing my mind,
if she wants to return one day, I'm easy to find.
As she left, she whispered God bless and sleep tight,
and thank you, I will now rest peacefully every night.