'the poet'
~ samples of my written work ~
~
~ narrative poem / short story ~
The Bean Jar
As with many storied beginnings There once lived a young couple So very in love that the world was theirs They had grown to adulthood In the shade of the mighty oak Of best-friendship The arms of which strengthened about them As childhood friendship matured to love ‘Long shall they live in peace and happiness!’ Prophesied family and envious detractors alike As the date of their much-heralded nuptials drew nigh Among the myriad gifts and well-wishes showered Upon the blissfully betrothed that day Alone one stood out As much for its commonplace simplicity As for its mysterious bestower Kindly of visage yet unsettlingly odd In the iridescence of his sparely cut suit And the dragonfly-wing translucence Of his ancient skin The well-meaning stranger Turned many a fair head En route to the reveler-beset young lovers ‘To bless you and your imminent union Have I these many leagues traveled,’ declared he Ere presenting them with an oversized glass jar And a like-sized burlap sack of beans For theirs was a love, he explained Far deeper and promise-filled Than most he’d seen in his countless years The full potential of which they would surely realize If faithful to his admonishments they’d be The enchantment betwixt jar and sack was such That throughout the newlyweds’ inaugural year The sack would lend the jar one bean for safekeeping For each time the couple made love, and Forever thereafter in all the years left to them Each instance of lovemaking would cause the sack To fetch one back And should the young couple, en route to old age Succeed in emptying the jar Their love would live forever Upon hearing this recipe for love everlasting The groom, in a manner befitting youthful virility With scarcely concealed swagger and a naughty wink Declared to the visiting gnome, to the world, and to his bride ‘Most surely art we then destined to love for all time!’ Amid the ripple of laughter that followed One voice rose with the color in the bride’s cheeks, cautioning ‘Few have achieved what all have taken for granted Grow ye together or surely ye shall grow apart!’ With a wistful smile the mysterious guest took his leave And was soon swallowed by the crowd Believing the ancient traveler to have been more addle-pated Than possessed of the gifts of prophesy and alchemy The newlyweds nonetheless accorded his gifts, in jest A place most prominent within their new home And nearly engaged in their first argument as man and wife when On the morn following their honeymoon night together A half-dozen beans plus two lay scattered in the jar Each believing the other to have placed them there as a prank Until wide-eyed they discovered The seals of both jar and sack remained Unbroken In the days, weeks, and fortnights that followed A steady migration of beans ensued as The sack shrank and the jar filled In response to the celebrations of the couple’s love That colored many of their days And most of their nights Passion-red Ere long the date of their union again loomed nigh And the couple, taking note thereof Endeavored playfully to empty the last remaining beans from the sack And so they did as the sun set at the close of their special day Moving as one to the flickering dance Of a hundred candles Following the unending procession Of the phases of the moon It came to pass that the couple was beset By the realities and inevitabilities of daily life The blessings and challenges of children Rises and declines of work and fortune The insistent demands upon their time and energies Placed by myriad creditors, oft well-meaning and Universally self-absorbed None of whom claimed a stake in the couple’s continued bliss And so, as the mysterious gnome’s wistful smile had foretold The repatriation of beans from jar to sack Initially a streaming rivaling that of the first year’s exodus Began to slow Imperceptively at first, then more noticeably As first one, then the other, was in turn Too tired, too harried, too angry To make love continued atop next column ^ |
continued from first column v
And there were instances Unnoticed by the couple When the act itself was more a rutting out of base need Or an expression of ownership, of domination Than a celebration of love And no bean returned to the sack But the husband and wife Often out of genuine contrition Occasionally as result of noting a faltering in the migration of beans Always out of love and respect for one another Invariably overcame exhaustion, made the time, reconciled their disputes And resumed their passionate exchanges Rejuvenated, if but momentarily And so passed the years from spring to autumn There came a day, on the eve of winter When the husband was taken ill The disease overcame him with agonizing sloth But overcome him it did A vile disease it was For it gradually robbed the man of control of himself Of his limbs, his hands Of, eventually, every muscle-driven function Including, inevitably, his ability to express his love for his wife As he had been wont to do And the slowing migration of beans faltered altogether Then stopped The wife, contrary to her afflicted husband’s deepest fear Never left his side Never exhibited impatience with his shrinking abilities Never once hesitated to love him with all her heart The husband, although moved to tears by his wife’s love Could not abide the sight of the bean jar Now frozen in appearance with a disheartening number of beans Yet within And his soulmate, feeling his anguish Wordlessly took away the jar and the sack And placed them in the back of the larder Well out of view Winter deepened for them both And as it did, so waned the man’s ability to do aught for himself His wife, duty-bound, cared for him increasingly Yet occasionally with such loving tenderness Streaming from her eyes to his And from his grateful eyes back to hers That, unbeknownst to the pair The sack would reclaim a bean The day arrived, much too soon, when the illness Having nearly completed its work Left the husband defenseless And other, opportunistic maladies seized him Carried him to his deathbed, and Set about the task of ending his earthly visit Ere long, it became clear that nothing more could be done for him And his wife’s ministrations were reduced to holding his hand Swabbing his fevered pate with a soothingly moistened cloth And gazing lovingly into the rheumy eyes of her Beloved He, in turn, fearing not so much his impending death As the specter of his demise signaling that of their love Wept quietly as he begged her forgiveness At having been incapable of emptying their bean jar She wept as well as she comforted him Sharing her conviction that none of that mattered That she would be with him always, and he with her That her sole regret was that she would have to wait to follow him That she’d give anything to accompany him, hand-in-hand, on his journey As his body’s life-spark flickered Hidden from the couple’s knowledge With each murmured exchange Every softly shed tear With every loving glance they shared A bean disappeared from the jar Until the last one too was gone And oddly, wondrously, her body began to fade Not visually but in vitality The man, sensing his wife’s strength ebbing, grew alarmed But the woman, somehow grasping what was happening to her, grew calm All is well – is wonderful, she assured him Smiling through her tears she said simply ‘I am coming with you, my Love’ And he understood Hand-in-hand Eyes locked in a mute declaration of abiding love They awaited eternity’s arrival The wait was short – the blink of an eye – in eternity’s terms But for the lovers, each shared heartbeat became a cherished lifetime together Until, finally, their hearts rested and their eyes closed And even as their bodies forsook together the company of the living To join the ranks of the departed Their souls arose as one, entwined, and blended To live in love For all time |