FavoritePhotograph

Hanging in the hallway is my favorite photograph
Nine times out of ten when I pass by it makes me laugh
But then there's those occasions when all I do is cry
When I remember how she loved me and our final kiss goodbye

She was born in Dublin back in 1863
An immigrated to America just a girl of 17
We oft recalled in wonder that the two of us should meet
Me a black eye and a bloody nose from fightin in the street

She was solid upper class from a wealthy family
Trapped in social circles and yearning to be free
That fate should intersect our lives is not the greatest mystery
But that she ever saw potential in a ruffian such as me

Brave I was that summer day and called upon her door
Her father in his rage forbade that I should see her evermore
But the heart obeys no master and true love has yet to fail
To penetrate the deepest depths and steepest walls to scale

Her father made his fortune shipping freight around the horn
He vanished off Cape Hatteras when his ship foundered in a storm
There never was a woman half as practical as she
To my disbelief though in her grief she found an opportunity

The wedding was unattended but for the priest the bride and groom
Though the church was far from empty for her beauty filled the room
Her mother cried for days on end her sister wished her well
But as for me they did both agree I would be better off in hell

We worked hard and we struggled to save our meager wage
But despite of our best efforts very little had we saved
Sean she says they're giving land away out west from what I understand
If we're gonna live in poverty then lets be poor on our own land

I took a job working on the railroad and we made our way out west
And when first I saw this valley a great weight was lifted from my chest
Beside the river's willowed shore, the cottonwood and stone
We said a prayer and settled there and made the land our own

She took to farm and family with a vigor rarely seen
She learned to doctor cattle and could handle any team
We worked hard and we struggled built a home and raised our kids
And the good lord blessed us with success in everything we did

For fifty years we worked the land as partners man and wife
And the girl that gave up wealth for love found real riches in her life
I never knew another soul that so relished sweat and toil
That couldn't wait to greet each day and get her hands down in the soil

I grew concerned one afternoon when she had not returned for tea
I found her in the orchard where she had fallen from a tree
I've been waiting for you Sean she said, I think that we should pray
And the wind blew through the apple trees and carried her away

Hanging in the hallway is my favorite photograph
The first time she drove a motorcar wearing goggles and a hat
Though just a faded black and white her green eyes still shine through
I recall the final words she said, she said, I picked this one for you.

© 2002, Richard Elloyan
These words may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written
permission.