The Tragic Marriage of the Mad Scientist

We met upon a winter’s night,
When snowstorms raged like hell.
I gave you shelter in my lab.
I saw your face… and fell.

We sat together by the fire,
And talked of many things.
We two exchanged a thousand words
Before exchanging rings.

You charmed me with your loving heart,
Your clever mind and wit.
We lived in joyous wedded bliss
Before disaster hit.

The doctors huddled ‘round your bed,
All speaking in hushed mews.
They told me that you’d soon be dead,
And killed me with their news.

For days, I would not look at you.
I feared you’d see me cry.
I saw no lover. Just a soul
Unfairly marked to die.

I donned a scientific shroud,
Hid my fair head in books.
I wrote and worked to drive away
The doctors’ sorry looks.

I read about anatomy,
The taxidermist’s art.
Stark strange ideas were soon conceived
Within my grieving heart.

I left you in a nurse’s care,
Although you screamed and wept.
Our marriage bed became a spot
Where only illness slept.

You kept on calling from our room,
Laid in that horrid place
That had become your earthly tomb.
A trial I could not face.

One night, you rose, and came to me.
Soft tears tattooed your cheek.
“Did you just love the best of me,
And loathe me now I’m weak?”

Among the books, the jars and tools
Stood your pale, weakened frame.
Your broken heart and fire-red eyes
Flooded my soul with shame.

My arms embraced your shivering form.
Lips kissed your fevered brow.
“I’ve failed, my love, to show my best,
But you shall see it now.”

From then, I never left your side.
We’d chat and laugh away
The pain, the illness and long hours
‘Til Death’s appointed day.

Your lips gave me one final kiss.
You closed your eyes and slept
The sleep from which you’d never wake.
I hung my head and wept.

Though gone, a mill’on memories
You’d kindly left behind.
Created by your caring heart
And your fantastic mind.

As undertakers made their plans,
I knew I had to save
The parts of you I’d loved the most
From rotting in the grave.

Your slender form, your gentle face
I let the cold earth seize.
But brain and heart I kept in jars
Upon my mantelpiece.

Two ghoulish artefacts to show
The love I knew before.
The symbols of your grace and wit
Preserved for evermore.

Two tokens of a husband saved
By his most thankful wife.
The best of you shall stay with me
Until the afterlife.