The Lady

The door flew wide in the vicious wind as the man and dog stepped through;
He slammed it shut with a powerful shove and met the eyes of few.
He nodded at one, then another, but never cracked a smile,
While the huge dog lumbered over to the hearth to warm himself awhile.

The big man went to the table at the far back wall of the room
And was swallowed by the shadows in the sputtering oil lamps' gloom;
He propped his Sharps in the corner then tilted back his chair,
To begin another vigil for the woman he hoped would be there.

I'd never seen such lifeless eyes as he passed my table by;
They were grey-- like an overcast morning, when snow clouds fill the sky.
I asked the old man next to me if he knew who'd just come in...
He said, "A lonely man, indeed, is my friend Big Dan Quinn..."

He sipped his amber whiskey and watched the dog by the fire...
Produced a worn tobacco pouch and packed his battered briar;
"It was six years to the day," he said, "that Dan and Ellen parted...
She promised him that she'd return... so he waits here, broken-hearted..."

He held a match above his pipe ‘til the air was blue with smoke,
Took another taste of the Irish before he once again spoke:
"Ellen was a Lady... she was married to a Lord
Who hunted every continent to keep from getting bored...

Lord Wright was many years older... she'd been promised as a girl...
And Ellen hated every hour of traipsing ‘round the world;
But when Lord Wright hired Big Dan Quinn to guide him to The Rim,
Dan fell in love with the Lady, and she fell in love with him.

Mind you, nothing happened, for she was another man's wife...
But Dan would never be happy again without her in his life.
The last time Dan saw Ellen was right there at that table...
She stole a kiss then told him she'd come back when she was able.

So every anniversary Dan comes down from Cody Rim,
To be here for the promise she made long ago to him..."
I strained my eyes to see him through the shadows and the smoke–
An honorable man of integrity, who never smiled or spoke.

I thought, "How sad to waste his life, to come each year and pine..."
When the great black dog leapt to the door and began to scratch and whine.
Every eye in the tavern was intently watching him,
When the door again blew open-- and at last, Lady Ellen came in.


©Copyright 2004 Boston John Doucette