The Fall of the Rider

This was written for my writer's group. The prompts were Rite, Room, Accident, Letter, Wind, Tree, Musical Instrument, and Sandwich. The genre we had was poetry or western. I decided both.

The Fall of the Rider

 

“Please don’t go,” she said as her plea, holding close to the Rider

“You know I must, so please, Love, don’t fuss” he replied, sparking terror inside her

 

The Rider had but one more trek to complete his urgent mission

The letter soon, before the full moon, would at last arrive in completion

 

Never before had the Rider come short in any one of his duties

This time though a dangerous show came from the worst of his enemies

 

He donned his hat at took one last bite of his dinner of ham on rye

He made his way through the saloon girl foray, none of the ladies too shy

 

She followed him close to watch him leave fearing all of the worst

Something inside her dreaded this ride, this letter a damnable curse

 

The Rider saddled his horse and was nearly away, but stopped once he got on the street

Waiting for him just as she feared, The Gunslinger at last he would meet

 

“Stop where you are!” the Gunslinger said, prompting the Rider dismount

“Just hand it on here and there’s nothing to fear”, the whole town took notice his shout

 

“You know that I can’t give in to you, you had best be on your way”

But Rider and Slinger both knew the truth, only one man would live to see day

 

Without a word they both drew and started a flurry of bullets that riddled the town

Everyone took cover hoping soon it’d be over and one of the men would fall down

 

The gunfire stopped and the wind cleared the smoke that came from the skirmish downtown

The people came out to remove any doubt which of the men was victorious this round

 

Last rites were given by a priest at the grave that was placed under Sycamore tree

A sad song was offered in place of a coffer; the guitar man refused his small fee

 

The Rider looked down at the grave of his love, taken in chaos of night

The Rider swore vengeance on the head of the Slinger, planning to kill upon sight

 

After the battle that halted the letter in hand, all the Rider could ponder was this:

The bullet that took the life of his love, was it from the gun of the Slinger or his?

Author's Note

I'd love to know what you think.

Reviews

[Great Aunt Astri]

Oh, wonderful! You really had me on edge there, and the ending, so sad, such is the wages of war! Some of the rhyming is delightful .. especially, 'close to the rider, terror inside her' and 'all of the worst, damnable curse' and 'ponder was this, Slinger or his.' I think you had fun writing this poem, and I certainly enjoyed it.

[Mitch]

Thank you! My favorite westerns have some tragedy to it; for me this story only had one way to go. I did have fun, I'm gladyou enjoyed the read. Thanks for the review. Hearing from others is most encouraging.

[Dave]

Hmmmm. Not exactly the same but for some reason it reminded me of the end of the movie High Noon.
Thank you.

Take care - Dave

[Norah]

Amazingly profound and thought of Mitch! The scenes really played well in my head. It is a really sad ending

[Mitch]

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the read. This was a response to a writing prompt for a group I'm a part of and our theme was to work within a western. Usually, some westerns have a bittersweet or downer ending (to me at least. Not everyone rides off into the sunset).

Thanks for the review!

[Davidgeo]

Since you'd love know what your readers think... I thought this was sophomoric faux TV romantic in content and uses the most boring and overused rhyme scheme the world has ever known... and hopefully it was written by a pre teen and not an adult. That is what I think. I'd lie and tell you this is good but, nah, I've had a run in with a d********g the other day that inspired me to be honest and not silent.