Fever

(a Mayberrie series poem. This one belongs after the poem “Rumbling” and before “By his Side”. Sorry, they don’t always come to me in order.)

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There was a pounding in her head,

a shiver in her bones

as she staggered from her garden

and folded to the ground.

In bed she woke,

Old Woman from the woods

holding a cup of bitters to her lips.

Drink!  she commanded.

Stars, moons and goblins

swirled around her head

as she tumbled up the mountain

and sank into the sea.

And then she felt him at her side,

his hands cupping her face.

She swam into deep water eyes,

held him closely to her heart

until there were no shackles

holding them apart.

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When she woke

Old Woman sat nearby

and he was gone.

Where is he?  she whispered.

Old woman shook her head,

You must have dreamed, she said.

The kingdom is at war again.

He would never stay behind –

instead he leads his men.

Turning towards the wall she wept

and fell into a darkness

of nights taunting the days.

And then the fever broke.

.

She looked around her room and saw

fresh bread and butter on the shelf

and broth warming near the fire –

but she was alone.

On shaky legs

she stumbled to the door

and pushed it wide,

greeted by the morning sun,

the restless trees, a solemn crow –

and hoof prints of a war horse

that had halted on the path.

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© 2012  Betty Hayes Albright

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For links to all poems in this series, please click on the Mayberrie tab at the top of this blog.

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