The passion of James and Alice
In conversing with a reader, I was reminded of the 1974 Queanbeyan flood, which washed away part of the graveyard and sent coffins bobbing down the river into Lake Burley Griffin (the cemetary has since been reinforced, so shouldn't be an issue). The sad part of it all was that by the time everything was gathered together, no one knew who was who and so the remains were reinterred but without their own gravestones. Instead, a memorial was put up in their honour.
Any-hoo, I loved the story the moment I heard it and eventually, it turned into a story in my mind. Unfortunately, the damned story wouldn't come out as narrative and so voila! My first piece of poetry in forever.
The truth, dear friends, is that I suck at poetry, so I've not been able to do the story of James and Alice justice enough to get it published on paper.
But in honour of this week's flooding of the Queanbeyan River, I'm going to put it up here. Please, be gentle [image error]
Even when dead
The ghost of James Mason sat on his grave,
A miserable shade of a boy.
He watched phantoms promenade through the rain,
And could not connect with their joy.
Day after day, from moon rise to moon set,
He sat on that stone and he sighed.
If asked, he'd talk about pretty Miss Alice,
his angel, the love of his life.
James had been just nineteen when he'd died,
his old nag hadn't clear that last fence.
He'd only just pledged to Alice McGowan
And he'd missed her every day since.
He never stopped loving, never stopped wanting,
He kept himself pure and alone,
Living in hope one day his Alice would lie here
And in the graveyard, they'd make a sweet home.
In seventy-four the rains came,
The river rose, the danger grew.
It tore at the hill of the graveyard,
Through dirt and wood it chewed.
Gravestones and coffins and bodies
were washed into the churning wake.
James sat on his coffin, buffeted, wild,
And rode the river down to the lake.
Shadowed trees held tight to the shoreline,
Scared that they too would be taken.
It seemed to him the whole world had been
Picked up and tossed round and shaken.
James perched on his box and wondered
When he'd return to the calm of his grave,
Then he saw a slim, girlish figure
Walk towards him over the waves.
The tilt of her head was familiar,
A gesture of her hand made him calm.
Then her smile, her curls, her crystal blue eyes,
And James felt no more alarm.
"Are you hurt?" called his Alice as she neared him
"Are you worried? Please, do not fear.
I will not hurt you, just want you to know
That there is somebody near."
James smiled and said "Alice" and eyes widened
As shock moved across her sweet face.
Then she gasped and she cried out "My James, my love"
And she threw herself into his embrace.
Safe in his arms, Alice told him
Of lost love that she could not endure.
Straight after his sad little funeral,
She'd come to the lake and enacted the cure.
"It didn't work," Alice sobbed, "didn't help,
I was dead but my love wouldn't die.
And I couldn't leave to be with you
But was trapped where my bones did lie."
James kissed her and calmed her and soothed her
And promised never again would they part.
With the help of her watery-friends and neighbours,
Soon their bones lay close in the dark.
When later the divers found them,
And collected the bodies - his and hers -
They took all the bones to the grave yard
And made sure every one was interred.
If anyone noticed the newest arrival,
Not a word of it was said,
And late one night by a glistening moon
ghostly James and Alice were wed.
Now James smiles and nods and is happy
As he watches the others go about.
He sits on his stone and hold Alice's hand
the sweet reward of the devout.
Even when dead, the heart yearns,
A grave yard cannot separate friends.
Even entombed, the passion still burns,
It never ends, never ends, never ends.
