Forever Mine

by Rose Blackthorn

in a box beneath the stone

wrapped in cloth and left alone

lies the heart of my beloved

    he is mine, forever mine

in the dark of moonless night

hidden always from her sight

his ghost is wandering and calling

    but he’s mine

she doesn’t know that he is taken

her faith has never shaken

even though he won’t return

    because he’s mine

sometimes I want to tell her why

he never came to say goodbye

but then I stop before I do

    for he is mine, and only mine

…the love he had for her was just a lie

Grampy’s End of the World Prediction

by Rose Blackthorn

Grampy always said, “When the world ends, it won’t go out with a bang. It’ll go with a whimper.”

A’course he died a decade back, so he never knew.

I been thinkin’ on him a lot lately. Cantankerous old man who always had to prove hisself right.

Most of our kin are hidin’ in their root cellars, clutchin’ their bibles or their rifles, whichever they put more stock in.

Me? I’m sittin’ here in the yard, listenin’. As the sun goes nova, the sky burns. Sounds more like a tea-kettle shriekin’ than a whimper. But it’s definitely not a bang.