The Pledge

Dear friend,

It’s my pleasure to share with you another one of my poems. This time, I present you “The Pledge.”

I’m sure that by now, you recognize in me a romantic poet. Yes, I am. But I’m a romantic of bygone eras. From the Era of Romanticism, you may say, from late18th to mid-19th century, I love those times, full of passion, and tragedies of love and madness, and death, where emotions commanded reason,

So, the poem I present to you here has these arguments. It’s a haunting piece of work, and I hope you like it. I know many of you will love it, because in our deepest selves, we are all romantics. Yes, of course, I understand that for some of you the poem may feel heavy, shadowed, and religiously charged, but that is the Romantic literature style that makes most of us sigh or cry.

Thank you for reading.

The Pledge

(A poem by Sal Godoij.)

You pledged, Margaret, so solemnly you made the pledge

'Till Death Do Us Part,’ you pledged, but took it to the letter

Thus, so soon you left, leaving me bereft, bereft and at the edge

At the edge of reason, haunting shadows so that I can feel better.

Alas! Death did us part, and bleeding is my heart.

Ethereal, transparent, real-unreal, you dwell among the crowd

They are all shadows, shadows they are all, and I cry

You blossom in my darkness, but I can sense the shroud

No! No! No! I cry. You are not a shadow

You are but a twinkling star in the vastness of the sky.

Alas! Death did us part, and bleeding is my heart.

At the altar you pledged, Margaret, kneeling before the Christ

‘Till Death Do Us Part’

And now I struggle to be brave, kneeling before your grave,

No! No! No! I cry. Not that pledge

‘Till Love Brings Us Back,” this is my Pledge.