Three Years Before

Dreaming dreams I won't remember
On this third morn of September,
Sleeping sleep I might have swore
The best I've ever slept before.
Then awakened by a whisper,
How that sound could not be crisper.
First so still, but then a drifter.
Drifting through my bedroom door.

Frightened by a fright so gripping,
That I lay there froze and dripping
As if someone more and more
Dropped drops of fear in every pore.
Once I gathered all my courage,
Which was feeling quite malnourished,
Slowly, and a bit discouraged,
Staggered to the forest floor.

As the rustic Eos glistened
Did I stand, and look, and listen
For that murmur from my door
To fall upon my ears once more.
Through the trees so neatly woven,
Glances from an eye wide open,
Wider still when - silence - broken
By the sound that pierced my door.

Thought, did I, the strain of laughter
Now the sound that I sought after
Echo through the forest floor
As nothing ever has before.
Started, I, so soft and slowly
With demeanor limp and lowly
O'er an acre ridged and rolly
Through a woodland unexplored.

When, upon a naiad's ocean,
Did I kneel, and without motion,
For the sigh the treetops bore
Was of a whisper, nothing more.
Faintly fading, now I wondered
What direction I was under
That this sound, my pride now plundered,
Came from where I was before.

As I turned unto retreating
Did the drum of footsteps beating
Thump from farther down the shore
Of two, of three, of four - of more!
Then I spotted through the branches,
And allowed no second chances,
For an eye to meet the glances
Of such scavenge carnivores.

Darting, cautious, as a shadow
Over many a sprinting fallow
Leaving shreds of what I wore
Through thorn rich inches - ninety score.
Safety gained, but not from panting,
Solace, though, so freshly granting
Was the air, yet filled with chanting -
Neverending! Evermore!

Watching, here, a yearling wayward
Cast its glances heavily dayward,
Granting now a refuge for
And from the voice I heard before.
Till arrived upon her shoulder,
When that mare so gently told her
Of the dreams that would behold her,
Did I listen now, once more.

Suddenly - attention heightened!
Terror gripped me, then it tightened.
Laughter louder laughter more
Came rumbling farther down the shore.
Sure to follow, yet reluctant,
Things were looking quite redundant.
Now the mem'ries were abundant.
I've been down this path before.

Sadly, slowly, to the maple
Where we carved our heart shaped label:
'As I hold you on this shore,
I'll keep you safe forevermore'.
Skipping shale stones off the water.
Some skip on while others totter.
Could the day get any hotter?
Still I see just what she wore.

Three full years, I now remember
On this third day of September,
Sitting, talking on this shore.
She lived three years, she'd live no more.
That is where she left her laughter,
In that day, and never after,
Since the monster came and grabbed her
Early on, September four.

Now they're coming - all the feelings
That I've kept so unrevealing.
Forced to think now how she bore
That pain - through cries and screams and more.
LEUK, the first to start the killing.
Brother E was next, and willing.
MIA, swift to end the tilling.
Then the Reaper did his chore.

The sadness swelling in my throat
Is from rememb'ring what I wrote,
Engraved in maple, on this shore.
The same today, just as before.
Tried, did I, but could not save her.
All I had is all I gave her.
If I could, I'd surely trade her,
Six beneath the forest floor.

Then, again, I heard that whisper.
Drifting closer, clearer, crisper.
Though it chilled me to the core
It would not scare me from this shore.
Laughing, like a child playing.
Guess it must have planned on staying.
Then, at last, I heard it saying:

'Hold me, Daddy, on this shore.
Keep me safe forevermore'.