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 “The Locket Lost - A Ghost Story” by Jack Kimball

A lone man sees a fog in mists
and searches for his memories
(as each day finds one more is missed)
and fears within the deep abyss
- is loss of his identity.

and yet as he endures the day
a woman happens to come by
and sits by him as seemed her way
and holds his hands with this to say.
- “I give this locket as goodbye,

so keep it as a memory
that I am giving as a guide,
and know that I’ll forever be,
the one who’s in your reverie,
- the very one who was your bride.”

And with these words she placed a kiss
upon her love’s most cherished lips
and as she did he knew he’d miss
a love he felt that’s more than this;
- a comet found, a moon’s eclipse.

Yet as the man took up the gift,
he feared his love had come too late
for he felt his memories drift
beneath a veil he couldn’t lift
- above the sadness of his fate.

He knew how strong their love had been
and felt the passion of their touch,
but also knew his future then:
He’d never know her face again
- and never know he loved this much. 

His love reached out and placed her hand
with soft caress upon his cheek,
just wiped his tears, and didn’t speak,
for well she knew her heroed man
- with broken heart had fallen weak.

“Trust now, my love, the locket laden,
with all the love from me inside,
will keep the memory of your maiden
in the visage that I’ve laid in
- a silver locket by your side.”

And so he trusted what she’d said
and kept the locket near his heart
while dreading now what lay ahead
(his loss to come and where that led)
- and kissed her back to do his part.

They counted days, each more than last,
until some men with blooded breath
came like a curse from his life past
and stood with empty eyes and asked.
-“Are you sir, ready, for your death?”

These men had set the price he’d pay
when giving up the life he’d known
and naming them in court that day;
they swore his death, the only way,
- as well he knew the dice he’d thrown.

So in his dreams a nightmare came
with waves of guilt that gnawed inside,
not for the men in court he’d named
(for they had played and lost the game)
- but worse than that; he’d been allied.

And so they came at him one day
to do him harm for words he’d said,
but yet his love still had her say
and saving him, jumped in the way
- and took a bullet in his stead.

She fell in blood upon the floor;
he went to her with things unsaid,
“I’ll follow you and something more,
I won’t forget,” and this he swore,
- and then his tears fell where she bled.

And there, like living in a dream
he held her dying eyes as he
felt in his heart a silent scream
like some pale ghost, or so it seemed,
- with burning hell as destiny.

The locket held her portrait then;
but later as he reached in where
the vision of his love had been
he realized he had lost it when
-the men had slain his love back there.

He felt a terror in his heart
to think that he would lose her face
which even now he couldn’t start
to see together as one part
- and faded out in time and place.

So as he searched his memory
now less than dreams without her guide
he felt his loss in agony,
and looked to death as remedy
- to be forever with his bride.

He chose his fate one early dawn
and placed a rope above his head
and let the knot be tightly drawn
around his neck while counting on
- the joining with his love now dead.

But fate had shown a stubborn bend
and wouldn’t let him join his love
as in his life he’d stood with men
who’d chosen sin and would again
- for he’d been judged from up above.

His love appealed the gods unfair,
“This man loved me, and I loved him;
and though it’s true he lived in sin
you’re asking way too great a fare;
- you break my heart our love’s within.”

And so the gods in charity,
said to his love, his now passed bride,
“We’ll give one wish we once denied.
Although he’ll lose his memory,
- we’ll give one thing we chose to hide,

the very locket he loved most,
he'll stumble on as new though old
and find the locket that was lost
the night you died and paid the cost,
- and in this way, make your heart whole.

But know because of how he lived
the afterlife cannot be his;
his place in heaven we can’t give;
the life he led we can’t forgive,
- and so it’s said, and so it is.”

His mind in fog, a mindlessness
he found the locket, so we’re told,
which laid with him upon his chest
while lowered down to take his rest
- among those dead who lie so cold.

They say his grave up on that hill
is where his soul forever yearns
to know whose face is with him still
but yet his heart is never still
- as knowing who--he had not earned.

So now as endless seasons pass
he longs to gain his memory
(which fills his dreams as guilty past)
and fears these will forever last
- from now until eternity.

For in his hands a locket lies,
a face unknown he can’t quite claim,
a love he feels, he knows not why,
a face he sees that makes him cry,
- while in his heart is only shame.

And in the days and ages hence
they say he haunts those steps of stone;
and looking there at dawn’s commence
you’ll see him mourning past events
- and see a ghost who is alone.