Stray John To Hell Poem by Genevieve Surrender

From the afternoon sun a stranger stirred.
A homeless son.
Stray John emerged from beyond the city gate.
His rucksack empty,
yet carried his heart which he wore on his back.
Tucked away, and forgotten.

A tavern serving ten,
Men and women turned to see the stranger approaching.
'Whiskey and water, half by half' Stray John asked the barkeep.
'With what will you pay, Stray son, for we do not serve peddlers here.'
'I pay in stories of my travels, for whomever wish to hear.'
The barkeep sneered a jolly grin and handed Stray John his spirits.
'I will let you one, but only one. After that I take real coin.'

Stray John sat back, reclined on his stool and told some tale
of mystical lands.
An older gentleman of fifty or so, from the back of the bar, sat in shadow.
After a tale, of heroism and adventure
the shadowy figure lingered a chuckle.

Stray John turned to the silhouette.
The man approached and gave a bow,
'Baldwin, they call me. I am a man of a thousand tales. Tell me son, who was she that broke your heart? '

Stray John leaned forward
his arms on the bar
staring into oblivion.
'She was a maiden, but only sixteen. I was not yet twenty.'

Baldwin nodded, placing a sack of gold on the bar,
'I pay these rounds. Come, stray son, sit back with me.'
The two returned to the table in shadow.
'I find your tales to be intriguing. How old are you, young man? '
Stray John looked at his hands, wrapped around the cup of drink,
'I am but Twenty-four winters along. Soon to be Twenty-five.'

The older man sat back in his seat,
'Far too young to know heartbreak, my boy. How did she go? '
Stray John upcast his head to look the man in the eye,
'For these five years, I have said to myself, she meant nothing.

She left the earth and left me in it.
So now I travel, to find my place. One day I will, far beyond these walls. Her memory will be forever lost.'

A quarter-day later, the sun started set.
Stray John would find his leave.
Baldwin limped along John's side,
to the wall about the town.

At the gate,
the two men exchanged bows
a courtly gesture of gentlemen.
'I will see you on my next return' said Stray John, to the tired Baldwin,
'And I will see you in Hell' Baldwin returned.

A smile grew on Stray John lips and he turned toward the setting sun.
He was a dozen paces out the gate before the dagger found his back.
A pool of blood grew at his feet
To his knees he fell.
And turning 'round he saw the man,
Baldwin's face gaunt and withered.
Stray John replied, 'To what
do I owe this honour, old friend? '

Old Baldwin replied
'I send you to the woman
whom you have so long ago
forgotten.'

Stray John simpered
and nodded all the way to the soft earth.
Outside the gate he took his leave
to find the woman, he'd so long ago forgotten.