The pen is mightier than the sword,

They say;

But put it up against a gun

And it wouldn’t last a day.

 

I grew up in those fairy fails

Of ‘Prince Charming’s

And dragon scales

Magic apples

And whistling whales

But my neighbor never living

To finish the tale.

 

He was a writer, talented,

And everyone knew it,

Till he was silenced forever

By that dancing gray bullet –

 

POW! Was the sound –

No wait, it was worse!

But nothing was worse than

The sound of that hearse

As it carried him lifeless

As if his life was less

Than it was really worth.

 

Oh how tragic a scene,

That reeked a stench of grief

And sorrow;

And mourners with chests that

Had just been left

Hollow

I stood, silently

Callow,

I shook frantically –

 

SHHHH! Can you hear that?

I think it's the sound of my heart breaking

Scattered, in the illusion of death being defied -

I'm aching.

Will someone please tell me his death's just him faking

Not knowing the little girl's joy he's just taking

Just waking...

 

But he doesn't.

Instead the magic pixies dance around

With roses in hand and then surround

His casket and lift it up high in such a spectacle,

So flawlessly without so much of a debacle,

but I was too hurt by the thought of his sepulchral

Tomb.

 

I used to believe that death was just an illusion.

That just before you died a flood of light would flood your insides

And save you but that was just a delusion.

Or that some girl would magically appear on a white horse

And wrap you up in her 12 foot long hair - and it would glow -

And you would rise and be held by the one hold dear.

But that too was just a wish filled with air.

 

So today Mister Writer, my neighbor, my friend,

It is time for this little girl's fantasies to end.

That she might one day lift you up from the dead

Was just a doomed dream from the stories she'd read.

 

Can you see that I'm no longer wailing?

My head's held high and my frowns are now fading

As I wave goodbye just know I'm not blaming you

For all your fairy tales magically failing.