The Man Who Lived in the Cave

We’d moved on in to a clifftop house

When our babe was very young,

I had to erect a barbed wire fence

To keep our darling at home,

For Ellen was a precocious child

With a beautiful, smiling face,

But for all our efforts to tame her down

It was hard to keep her in place.

 

She would bounce about, would run on out

The moment we turned our backs,

Many a time I would see her climb

And she’d give us heart attacks.

‘She’s halfway up the chimney, John,

She’s climbed right up to the thatch,’

The wife would cry, and I’d almost die

In bringing our daughter back.

 

She’d stand awhile by the cottage gate

That led on out to the track,

That wound its way right down to the bay

On a narrow, winding path,

I wired the gate, and I thought it held

Till the day she broke on through,

And made her little way to the bay

Before we even knew.

 

I found her at the mouth of a cave

That sat just up from the shore,

And breathed a sigh of relief as we

Embraced, like never before,

But she pointed in to the darkened cave

With her tiny little hand,

‘I want to go in the cave with him,

That funny old sailor man!’

 

‘There isn’t a man in the cave,’ I said,

‘You must have been seeing things.’

‘Oh no! He asked me to follow him

And he showed me lots of rings.

He had a black patch over his eye,

And a ponytail in his hair,

I want to go where the sailor goes,

Will you let me go in there?’

 

I carried her back up the winding path

Though she clung to me and cried,

‘That cave is simply an eerie place

And it’s cold and damp inside.’

I should have taken more notice then,

I thought it was just a rave,

For days, young Ellen would speak of him,

The man who lived in the cave.

 

I went to check at the library,

The history of the town,

And read that smugglers used that cave

When nobody was around,

And long before there were buildings there

A smuggler on the run,

Had sheltered there in that dismal cave

With his daughter, Ellen Gunn.

 

I raced on home to the clifftop house

To find young Ellen gone,

The wife was having hysterics there

And I was overcome.

I ran, pell mell down the clifftop path

It was such a deathly scare,

And searched to the end of that awful cave

And I found her Teddy Bear.

 

A fisherman on the beach had seen

Young Ellen on the sand,

Then watched as a sailor took her in

To the cave there, hand in hand.

‘I thought that he was her father,’ said

The rustic fisherman,

‘She seemed quite happy to go with him

And he looked a kindly man.’

 

I must have searched it a dozen times

And I called, and cursed, and cried,

And prayed to god that I’d find my girl

Hid somewhere deep inside,

When out of the depths, she toddled out

Stood still, turned back to the cave,

And that’s when I glimpsed that sailor man,

Who stood at the back, and waved.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[MomzillaNC]

I like to think that closing means she went home again with her father and not back into the cave with “that sailor man.” The tale is gripping. I like the way you leave the ending to the reader’s imagination -- I’m sure some will see her going back into the cave with the sailor man and disappearing forever.

[A Soap Mess Stories]

I was hoping "the sailor man" was Ellen's father, come back for his daughter...very gripping tale David.

[Devanshu Rajput]

A wonderful poem here. A great poem telling us about the strong inner consciousness of a little girl.

To be honest, the strange sailor man reminded me of novels written in the age of pirates. Be it of Jules Verne's Lord Grant's Children or Mysterious Island or Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island(The Ben Gun).

Sorry for digressing.

The little girl has may be given the man a new life. I thought that something really bad is going to happen out there, but thanks to you, you did not let it happen.

Again you have done it. DO you know what, whatever I write as a comment for your poems has become a cliché, because I have read so many of your poems that I now don't have words to describe it's excellence.

But, as something is better then nothing, please do accept all my comments.

I love reading your poems and will love forth.

Devasnhu

[KaoticOrder]

Very interesting. Awesome story

[Lyndy]

Oh wow, I like this poem! It's very magical! :D

[Valentine]

Children often have vivid imaginations, but she was seeing what her father wasn't, until the end of your write. A very sweet ending. Another good write, Valentine

[andrew mitchell]

Straight to the library David A super dooper read and every theme you squashed in your poem are great tales to warm the cockles. Bloody bloody brilliant David FAR OUT!!

[Jane Winters Rogers]

Little Ellen must be a old soul,being drawn to the cave and the old Sailor was something she couldn't resist.she had no reason to fear him , he had come back in time to see his darling, willful, playful child.the old Sailor knew she was back...because of his great love for Ellen he could never do her harm..Love can overcome any obstacle...thank you,..., as you can tell your words touched all your readers.....

[Marie]

I was simply scared to death that Ellen wouldn't come out again. Instead, she'd just found a strange playmate. Were you thinking about Ben Gunn when you wrote of this smuggler?

I hate to be picky, but your poems should be perfect. Look at the third line of the third verse. You've used "it's" as a contraction when it should be "its", possessive.

[ANTO]

"A smuggler on the run,
Had sheltered there in that dismal cave
With his daughter, Ellen Gunn." - its not often I experience such a sudden rising of the hackles and goosebumps all over - all at the same time - but when I read this sentence I did. Your wordcraft is totally off the charts DLP.

"I ran, pell mell .." - brilliant turn of phrase - ".pell mell.." - only from your pen David.

I feared that this would not end well and was very relieved when she re-appeared - the sailor wave was a sublime touch.

You keep outdoing yourself. Another fav - into the library.
:)))