He led a troubled life
always in trouble
always getting into fights
until as an older man
still getting into fights
he got into one that
killed him temporarily
upon the exam table
in the emergency room
he died and went to hell
returned to life terrified
turned his life around
became a church preacher.
Bob Boyd
If ever you’re in the highlands of Scotland
beware the roaming hellhound, Cu-Sith
if God forbid you see this hellhound
a spirit big as a bull, death unleashed
his bark thunderous as lightning
if you hear that thunderous bark 3 times
know those will be your death knells
your eyes will never see this world again.
Bob Boyd
He said he’d seen the invisible realm
bragged he talked to the fae there
said he was the master of them
puppets for his occasional play
claimed he stopped the keening
of many a wailing banshee
the fae came for him one day
offended by his lies about them
took him to the deathless world
tore his lying soul from his body
now he wanders soulless forever
and weeping in their invisible realm.
Bob Boyd
I went to a river deep in a forest
for some solitude and peace
sitting on the bank, I spied
a water fairy rising out of the
water without a single drop on her
surprisingly, I wasn’t frightened
she was too beautiful, too alluring,
to be afraid of
she asked with the sweetest
voice I had ever heard,
“Would you like riches galore?”
and she pulled a wand out of the air
and asked me the question again
you might think I was a fool to say no
and turn down riches galore
but I did, and she asked me two
more times
she drifted away to a man fishing on the
other side of the river, my mind
still blown by her beauty and her voice
I saw her talking to the man and
the man nodding his head, as she
pulled the wand out of the air
I almost regretted not accepting her gift
until she waved her wand and the man
burst into flames, smoke and ashes
in the air
shocked I got up and ran away from
the river, and I was thankful I remembered
a wise wizard’s words …
always be wary of water fairies.
Bob Boyd
When she lived in a house in Ireland, she woke up one day
and her house was sparkling clean
she told an elderly female neighbor about it
and the neighbor replied
you have the luck of the Irish
a brownie spirit is living in your home
you’ll probably never see him, but
when you wake up, your home will always be cleaned
just leave him a bowl of fresh cream or porridge
near the hearth each night, nothing more
and never … never offend him or treat him
like a hired hand
if you do so, he’ll leave, and you’ll never
have his help again
he desires to be your equal and not like
paid help
the bowl of fresh cream and porridge
are all he will require, nothing more
one day she got a fleeting glimpse of him
brown and hairy dressed in rags
feeling bad for him having to wear rags
she bought him some new clothes
after she went to bed and the brownie
came out
he saw the fresh new clothes next to the hearth
and was offended
though she meant well, she’d broken
the rule her neighbor told her about
the next morning when she woke up
her house was in disarray
the brownie who no longer cleaned her house
had gone away.
Bob Boyd
I saw you in a dream last night
though you died decades ago
a few nights ago in a dream
I felt an unseen woman’s arms around me
I know you always wanted to get back
together
and I have to ask, was the woman in the dream
holding me – you?
Bob Boyd
Her days have become downcast
her life has become bitter
her husband of 40 years has left her
she doesn’t know what she’ll do
how she’ll adapt to being alone
how she’ll live without love
her husband was her only friend
now she has no one to talk to
no one to commiserate with her
she feels like her life is over
feels like she is dying
goes to bed, eyes filled with tears
wakes up remembering he’s gone
has some coffee and chocolate
the sweet taste of the chocolate
perks her up, restarts her life
she remembers how her marriage
had been far from perfect
knows she’ll find a way to go on.
Bob Boyd
There are people who
create entities in their
minds called tulpas
they talk to them like
confidants and friends
real or imagined
as for me, I prefer
talking to God like that
real or imagined.
Bob Boyd
There’s too much deadly randomness
in this world
a woman taking a walk in a park in New York
a tree limb falls on her and kills her
people dying in random auto accidents
every day
a child playing in his parent’s home
killed by a stray by bullet from a street gun fight
a high school football player dies while playing football
an unknown, congenital heart problem
a young woman stabbed on a subway by a psychopath
she didn’t know
a middle age woman with two power dogs
one day mauled and murdered by them
an old person slips and falls in a bathroom
dies from the fall
a family having a peaceful lunch in a fast food restaurant
one of them shot to death in a mass shooting killing many
people who never thought what had randomly happened
to others would happen to them
and these unexpected, never imagined, random
deaths go on and on
how I hate the deadly randomness in this unpredictable
world.
Bob Boyd
Black, demon dog with red eyes that glowed like hellfire
burst into the Holy Trinity Church in Blythburg, England
with a clap of thunder in 1577
as the church steeple was struck by lightning and crashed
onto the church floor
the demon dog sped into the center aisle of the church, sunk his teeth into a man and a boy, killed both of them
his devilry done, blasted out of the church, clawed the door of the church on the way out, leaving scorch marks visible to this day.
Bob Boyd
A verse written about him back then:
All down the church in midst of fire, the hellish monster flew, and, passing onward to the quire, he many people slew.
Of course, the tale has probably been embellished, or maybe it hasn’t. 🙂