alone on a beach with a stork-like bird

[mtmynd]

laying on a deserted beach
i'm feeling half past dead
and the only sound i can hear
is the cawing of a bird who
flies in close to my listless body
and lands not three feet from me
and with eyes barely opened i stare
at this marvel of natural flight
and begin singing a song from my past:
"long black veil" in a Capella -

ten years ago
on a cold, dark night
there was someone killed
'neath the town hall light...

the bird continued on -

there were few at the scene
and they all agree
that the slayer who ran
looked a lot like you!

with his beak pointing straight at me
i wondered if i was actually dead
and this bird was my interpretation
of some kind of angelic entity that
happened to look stork-like, you know,
the same kinda bird that delivers babies?

the bird hopped closer to me and nudged me
and continued singing that song -

the judge said son what is your alibi
if you were with someone else
then you won't have to die

again, the bird nudged me and cawed loudly
so loud that i thought i would lose my hearing
... this bird absolutely demanded I sing with him

so in harmony we both sang the chorus -

the scaffold is high and eternity's near
she stood in the crowd and shed not a tear
but sometimes at night when the cold wind blows
in a long black veil she cries o'er my bones...

tears were beginning to stream from the corners of my eyes
as this damned song brought back memories only a dying man
could ever imagine but the bird wasn't finished and again - nudge

she walks these hills
in a long black veil
she visits my grave
when the night winds wail
nobody knows... nobody sees
nobody knows but me...

at the exact moment the final words were sung
the stork-like bird laid an egg like i've never seen
it was colored like a talavera ceramic from a place
that only a native from there could give a name to

the egg began moving... shuffling left to right, right to left
and then a small crack in that marvelous shell appeared
and it got longer and wider until it split in half and then
out steps myself... i mean it was me... i stepped out of an egg
and i washed the sand from my eyes and looked around...

when i spotted myself lying near death on the beach
a feeling of remorse came over me and i walked over to me
squatted down and whispered to myself "hey... it's okay..."
and then i knew... i knew who i was and why i was here...

i had been reborn on a desolate beach in the middle of nowhere
and i hatched from an egg laid by a stork-like bird who sang
with me a song from my past in sweet harmony after nudging me
and i became so friggin relieved at that moment knowing that
this was all nothing more than a story that i wrote for the hell of it,
but i want the reader to know that "a long black veil" is one song
that i can sing like a motherfucker when i feel it come over me.

for real. damn right.

[hester_prynne]

Excellent write MT.
I so enjoyed reading this.
And I love that song too...
Be great to sing it with you....
H

[goldenmyst]

MT, I dig this immensely. It is magical and the ending puts it in perspective perfectly. It also gave me a smile.

John

[mtmynd]

Thank you so much, Hes'...and I really think this piece liked the way you read it. I'd love to have a couple of shots of tequila or... and sing that song with you. It'd be damn fine, fo' sho'!

John, so nice of you to stop and give that reply. I do appreciate it muchly. It was one of those spontaneous trips from beginning to end, and your smile makes it better.

[Barry]

Sweet. Very much enjoyed by me.

Peace,
Barry

[mousey1]

Ha, this is Da Bomb! I'm loving it.

The ending superb! I am behooved to say that there should always be one song in this life that one can "sing like a motherfucker". rofl lol

[Nazz]

Bizarro Brautigan-like vibe in some parts, Cec,. Very cool. A little eerie... (There's that word again). Big time write.

[mtmynd]

Thank you, Barry. Nice of you to say so... I appreciate that.

- - -
mousey1: "The ending superb! I am behooved to say that there should always be one song in this life that one can "sing like a motherfucker".

indeed! i think everyone needs at least one song they can "sing like a motherfucker"... or what good is singing???

- - -

Thx, Mark... just a ditty fresh outta the mind. i happy to see the happy it did to the repliers. a surprise!

[stilltrucking]

awesome





that song alway gives me chills

So did your story

I don't know if I can sing it or not

But I have sung it

anyway

over the CB radio

On loney stretches of highway in the middle of the night

just to keep myself awake.

[mtmynd]

Thanks mucho, amigo... I appreciate that.

That song is probably the only song I know from memory. Can't remember when I first heard it but it had to have been Lefty Frizzell way back when.... way, way back... I think that song strikes chord with anyone that's ever heard it. powerfully melancholic tune. I can imagine singing that on the lonesome highway late at night when the skies look like they're filled with electric salt and popcorn clouds.

late enough to crash right about now... 11:37 as I write... i gotta fresh cold glass of lemonade to quench that late night thirst and will be hitting the horizontal shortly.

g'night...

[sooZen]

When I think about it, that song is the only song that you and I can sing chorus in perfect harmony!

I enjoyed it my love, the ending was especially good and you had me hooked from the start.

Other than the fact that storks don't caw...they honk like many water birds do and few other doodads I am tempted to fix. (Sorry, my editor kicks in. )

All in all, it was a fine and dandy tale.

[SmileGRL]

fantastical...i saw the whole thing happen.