The Yellow Doll

I’d known Dionne since her coming out

In a dress of tulle, in cream,

And held my breath when she took the floor

To glide like an autumn dream.

My eyes had followed her, all that night

As she danced from hand to hand,

I knew from then I would be in thrall,

She became my promised land.

 

She married badly the first time, and

I thought that she’d come to me,

She leapt from the fat of the frying pan

To the fire of the Presbytery,

Her husband Sol gave his sermons on

The fires in the pit of Hell,

Eternal moans in a fire of bones

With a terrible brimstone smell.

 

She seemed subdued, in a sullen mood

When I went to tea one day,

I asked her if she was happy now

But she simply looked away.

I saw a tear on her dainty cheek

And it took me by surprise,

‘I’m such a fool,’ she revealed to me,

‘I should have been more than wise.’

 

She said she wished she had never wed

For the first had made her cry,

He’d come home drunk for a solid month

And she said, she’d wondered why.

‘I loved him then, and I slaved for him

For I thought that he loved me too,

But then I heard about Annabelle,

And she, just one of a few.’

 

She married, after a swift divorce

A man with a flinty soul,

‘So much different to Adam, he

Is true, but his love is cold.

He tortures me with his tales of Hell,

Of sin in this earthly place,

And threatens that I might meet him there

If I don’t live in God’s Grace.’

 

She told me about a yellow doll

That she’d had since she was four,

She’d lavished love and affection on

But she didn’t, anymore.

He’d burnt its hands and he’d burnt its feet

When he’d been annoyed with her,

And said that she was the yellow doll,

The devil was waiting for.

 

I told her that she should leave him

That the man must be insane,

And told her that I would take her home,

That I would bear the blame.

She smiled at me with her sad blue eyes

And she said, ‘You’re really sweet,

But he has threatened to hunt me down

If he sees me in the street.’

 

She said he’d threatened to burn her feet

As he’d done, the yellow doll,

She’d not be able to walk again

And leave him, like a trull.

I left that day with a heavy heart

But at least, I knew the score,

Though when I tried to return again

I found that he’d barred the door.

 

The months went by and I thought of her

For she never left my head,

But then one day came the welcome news,

It seemed that he was dead.

I stood well back at the funeral

And I watched the widow’s face,

Under the flimsy widow’s veil

She shone with an inner grace.

 

We kept apart for a month or two

But I knew that she was mine,

We tried to avoid a scandal, it

Was just a question of time,

We married after a year had gone

He’d long been in the ground,

We couldn’t believe the harmony

And the love that we had found.

 

But then on a cold, black winter’s day

Dionne cried out aloud,

For beating hard on the cedar door

There was someone in a shroud,

And lying there on the welcome mat

Lay the little yellow doll,

Its feet were totally charred and black

And Dionne cried out, ‘It’s Sol!’

 

She clung to me and was petrified

And I tried to calm her down,

‘It can’t be Sol, for you saw him planted

Six feet under the ground.’

The shroud continued to beat the door

And Dionne, her voice was grim,

She pointed to the doll on the floor,

‘I buried the doll with him!’

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[emmajoy]

' ‘I loved him then, and I slaved for him ~ For I thought that he loved me too, ~ But then I heard about Annabelle, ~ And she, just one of a few.’

What a BRILLIANT tale! Tis a mix of romance, tragedy, darkness.. and all set in your incredible rhyming skills. There are few to compare with you in this genre, DAvid. As to the finish here .. .. !

Congratulations yet again.. and again!

[A Soap Mess Stories]

Another great tale...a grim ending...found it surprising that she buried the doll with him....

[Lena M. P.]

Now there's a twisted ending I wasn't expecting at all. Excellent piece David. Gave me the chills to read. You've aced it once more.

[Woody]

always an utter pleasure to read you David. I love this one as the others.
wonderful last line!!!

[Ayushi]

Wow your poem is thrilling and terrifying ..
You convey your story very swiftly.
Great work here!

[Claire in VA]

Gosh, I never saw that coming!
Thrilling write, David.
You are a clever one, indeed.
Claire =)

[Marie]

I expected some sort of breathtaking endiong, and I wasn't disappointed. Your stories are always thrilling, and never disappoint. However, I wish you hadn't made Dionne's second husaband a Presbyterian. We aren't that bad.

[roarke]

I snuck in here and stole a read David. Yeah man.

[Draven]

An excellent story. I thought it would end up kinda like this, and I was right. This is one of very few stories by you where I knew how it would end.

[Lyn Anderson]

Now this was a really clever ending. Your stories are so clear, vibrant, and alive. A great write.