Sir William

on the loss of the love of my life

“Are you sitting down?”
So goes the first line of the sequel to a chivalric romance.
It would be a different book entirely after this day,
detailing the gut-gripping aftermath of an undesired twist.

Your stack of paper went up in flames, and
I lie awake wondering why it had to be so close to the candle.
Scribbled words of plot lines blew off my paper,
“cottage” and “children” dissipating among the smoke.

When the smoke clears, I will write tales,
tall and full of half-truths,
of a knight with wit sharp as his sword
and enduring strength beyond words.