The Runaway Bride Poem by Zachary Bush

‘Twas dark on the night that I found her
Lying amongst the trees,
The moon was glinting strangely,
Through rustling yellow leaves.

A coyote's howl ecoched,
And tore through the frosty night.
But nothing was more dreadful,
Then her body's ghastly sight.


A fey wind blew her long black tresses
Across her wine red throat.
Her silent breast moved not at all,
Beneath her gold green coat.

Her skin was pale and ghostly white,
Her eyes gleaming with fear,
Such was the face of my Lilith fair,
As she lay in the woods of Weir.

Death gripped her lifeless body,
Her spirit long since fled,
That old Reaper stood triumphant
Over his beautiful dead.

At the sight of death standing there,
My warm blood turned to ice,
And I fell to the earth in horror,
Caught in his dreadful vice.

Then turning his coal black eyes on me,
And with a voice like love's sweet whisper
He spoke to my heart of death and pain,
Of life's most bitter winter.

I lay there frozen on the ground
Enrapt in his terrible speech,
Feeling my strength drain away
As if drawn by a bloodsucking leech.

A ghoulish haze obscured my vision,
And my heart sank in despair.
A coyote's howl rang out again,
And seemed to cry "Beware! "

I fought to rise to my feet,
But my feeble attempt was in vain
The last of my strength gave away
And I collapsed under the strain.

My last thought before I sunk
Into that abyss unknown
Was that I would again see my love,
And not be forever alone.

But alas! At dawn my hope was shattered
By that red rising sun,
For I awoke, and she did not,
Death's final victory was won.

We laid her to rest on a bed of hemlock,
With nightshade braided in her hair.
So ends the tale of my lost love,
Of my stolen Lilith fair.