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jwesley
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-04-30

Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

0 posted 2015-03-20 10:14 PM

Call To Infamy

The egret's narrow, straight legs
took one step forward,
bent slightly, straightened quickly,
and the bird raised its beak skyward,
swallowing the perch
it had caught.

I shot it then!

Leaving a grisly mess
of feathers and blood
lying on the bank
of the bayou –
my call to infamy,
my slight to God,
and you, for leaving.

Inside I cried.
The bird was nothing
but beautiful,
doing what it did best –
living,
and in anger
I stole its life.

Senseless stupidity
over a long, lost cause.

With both hands on the barrels end
I rotated twice
in a long armed swing
and threw my 12-guage
as far as I could
over the bayou's surface,
and watched it disappear with a splash
into the water's dark depths.

I though I was better than that.

My cell phone rang . . .
I swiped answer, held it to my ear . . .

Honey, I'm sorry, you said –
I love you, come home.
Pieces of flesh – the hands,
the heart, the eyes and lips.

What are the words?
Where do they lay?

I want, I love, I need –
the soul harbors these.
They're strapped to the me
sure as a belt
was holding them tight.

What are the words I can share
with that egret, dead forever . . .

Senseless stupidity
over a long, lost cause.

Lose this number, I said into the phone,
and watched it sail
over the bayou's dark waters
and disappear in a splash.

My call to infamy –

ends, here.

© wesley james beard, jr.
november 19, 2014

(Please don't assume everything I write is based on my personal life...)

latearrival
Member Ascendant

since 2003-03-21

Posts 5499
Florida

1 posted 2015-03-20 10:24 PM

I really liked this. Jo

VAS
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-11-16

Posts 7450
Oregon

2 posted 2015-03-21 03:53 PM

You're wringing my heart, for you, your wife and that bird.However, extremely well written.

Whether on the shoal or on the shore,
I'll seek the lighthouse evermore.

JerryPat2
Member Laureate

since 2011-02-06

Posts 16975
South Louisiana

3 posted 2015-03-21 06:44 PM

Ahhh . . . The story brings me back to a young tousled headed Jerry Bolton in southern Arkansas. It was Christmas. I got a Red Ryder BB Gun. I rushed outside to find something to shoot. Snow was on the ground. I spied a very red bird digging around in the snow for something to eat. I crept up on the bird, shouldered my Red Ryder BB Gun and pulled the trigger. The bird fell over and I ran to where it was. I stood there looking down at it and blood was seeping into the snow from its head. I prodded it with the barrel of the BB Gun. It didn't move. I just stood there staring a what I had done. From that day on I refused to kill another animal or bird, or anything. I have never forgotten that day Never.

~*~ When they give you ruled paper write sideways. ~*~

JamesMichael
Member Empyrean

since 1999-11-16

Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA

4 posted 2015-03-21 09:55 PM

nice writing...james

2islander2
Member Ascendant

since 2008-03-12

Posts 6825
by the sea

5 posted 2015-03-24 05:50 PM

hi jwesley, you did a perfect job here, the alternance between the woman and the egret is awesome and "twist" the heart, I get gret sensations , thanks
yann

Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis

since 2007-09-16

Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California

6 posted 2015-03-25 11:19 PM

Wow!, This is intense Jimmy.
Ida

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