Memory Fragments: Probity

Gauntlet Of Hooks

Even if I look back the way we came, I still do not see that path we forsook
Were we wrong by taking the hook? Mayhap a chance that we turned by overlook?
As this gauntlet continues on and on, I see not the end of the life we both took
But I do see another hook. A serendipitous happenstance to chance the crook

What life must have been. Another me, another you; we both with blood on our chin
Alas, the scouring did not take well to us. That is why we are here; the hook thus
Flames of water or something akin. Whatever it was, the boiling was real to our skin
So hazy it left our hearts a fuss. What hook did you take? Your end, I cannot suss

Witch of the mire, oh tell me now: At the end of this river, is there a where and how?
My mouth is hooked and so is my heart. But where and how does my body depart?
I am but an undead hausfrau. Reeling by hooks my husband's landau, I seek thou
Let me start my crying rampart. Fill this marsh with poison not, unhook this rust most tart

If I am to vagabond this path alone and forever, let it be so and without hook to sever
I plea to you, oh mistress, let me suffer unbound and free from the restless
Their hooks are a gauntlet to my lever. Why must I follow a dead man's clever?
Each hook I took for him, I lowered to anchoress. At the bottom, I am zestless

Of my own free will, I chose to put the hooks. Each one of them, piercing looks
A gauntlet, I thought. A test to prove. But now I wish, all them, to remove
Be holy be dammed; to each, their playbooks. I cheated in bringing my own books
So which is next to move? What is the punishment I long behoove?

"A hook for each; from what lesson do you preach? Hooked out of speech, nothing to beseech"
"Learned to fish have you not. For dead men sink as you fail to tie the knot"
"Tear your own mouth open from impeach. Get hooked again you dangling leech"
"Bait you are but game have you not caught. Your pilgrimage has been for naught"

Witch of the mire, I beg of thee! Please hear my kneeling plea!
At his side do I live unhooked. The world has me overlooked! 
I am not where I want to be! This path is but a gauntlet for him and me
As I reel this weight by knee downlooked, my punishment stands rebooked

"From his landau he shall reel you too. The hook of a corpse you wanted to accrue"
"Go on then, to the end of all nooks you shall drag your gauntlet of hooks"
"Dead men hook what is due. Their haul they let go and then reel anew"
"I wish you full of their hooks. The fish they all want, but can never get in their crooks"

"This is but a game of sport. Men die each day for their perfect catch"
"You are my daughter, my treasure. My bait for unfaithfulness"
"Shall your heart be pierced time and again; but be it never fall prey to snatch"
"At the end of the mire, where all hooks meet; the gauntlet ends at patroness"

But I am not the prize. Nothing more than a pleading fish who knows no angler
Is it truly so much? What pain from ripping, is it truly the same as hooking?
A gauntlet must be so, full of lines and many a ripe dangler
I wish not anymore. For I feel the rust in my heart; tugging and reeling

"Enamored by the sinking latches you were, my daughter and pain, same and all"
"Kneel and drag them all you wish. Let the hooks fall on their own and not by you"
"Shall one do so, pierce yourself again. Fill your body and make it kin to trawl"
"At end's crook, the landau shall rip with its wheels the rusted loves you never knew"

Through my bleeding knees, I sprawl towards my pleas
Oh mother. Oh witch of the mire: Be untouched by the hook of a liar
Bring not your mouth down to your knees. Your heart it shall never seize
I do this gauntlet of my own desire. What keeps me alive, my hook to my lifeline wire