Day: January 3, 2025

Maria Marten (1801-1827)
suffered a tragic life.
An attractive woman
she just wanted love
and a caring husband.
Had children with 2 suitors
Both refused to wed her.

At 24, she met William Condor,
who seemed a gentleman.
He promised to marry her
instead he shot her to death
in the infamous Red Barn
and fled to another city
pretending to her family
that she was with him and well.

Maria’s family got suspicious
when she hadn’t written them
Cordor kept making excuses
for her lack of correspondence
until Maria’s mother saw Maria
in a dream saying she was dead
and her body was in the Red Barn.

Sadly, the dream proved true
and Maria’s body was found,
as was William Condor who
was captured and hung on
the gallows, August 11, 1824.

Bob Boyd

He wasn’t prepared
for the death of his wife.
He thought their love
would last on earth
forever and ever.

He forgot or didn’t
want to face the fact
that love and lovers
die sooner or later
in this fleeting life.

Now he spends his
days crying streams
of salty tears and
having imaginary
heartrending
conversations
with his dead wife

and sends prayers
to the highest heavens
with the tearful hope
he’ll see her again
when he follows her
into the Great Unknown.

Bob Boyd

When the birds stop singing
and the bugs go silent
get the hell out of the woods.

Bob Boyd

Strumming his guitar and
singing through the years
he never lived his big dream
of being a superstar rockstar
paid the dues over and over
did many disagreeable gigs
in beer-stained unsavory bars

They told him he was better
than the singers on the radio
he had more than it takes
to sing hit songs on Billboard
yet he never got the big break
and had no choice but to
squander his promising talent
singing at small parties and
low paying Holiday Inn gigs
to barely make enough money
to pay his rent and his bills.

Bob Boyd