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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365864" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Strip Jack!</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">We'd been caught out in the yacht that day, <br>A storm blew up in the lee, <br>The clouds had gathered at four o'clock<br>In the wake of a rising sea, <br>'It's looking grim, ' I had said to her<br>As we spun the bows around, <br>And headed in to the distant shore<br>As the first of the rain came down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The sun went in and the sky was black<br>As I reefed the sail in short, <br>While Linda pulled in the spinnaker, <br>And clung to the rail's support, <br>She made her way to the cabin then<br>As my phone began to ring, <br>I heard, 'It's done! ' and my mind went numb, <br>It was time to do my thing! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">She stood with her back toward me as <br>I lunged with the marlin spike, <br>She dropped like a faded butterfly<br>In search of its last midnight, <br>I dragged her out to the afterdeck<br>And bound her up in the chain, <br>Then sent her down with the anchor where<br>She never would wake again! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">I cast off the anchor chain and then <br>I retched all over the deck, <br>It had to be done, I told myself, <br>And I thought of her cousin, Beck, <br>She'd done the deed we'd agreed upon, <br>Had seen off her husband, Ben, <br>So Beck would be mine to have and hold<br>As I'd dreamed and I'd schemed, back when.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We'd always been close, the four of us, <br>Had holidayed in the snow, <br>We'd sat in a dark secluded bar<br>In the aftermath of a show, <br>We'd played Strip Jack in the garden 'til<br>The women were stripped to the waist, <br>Then each of us swapped, and went to bed, <br>And woke to a different face! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">We thought we could get away with it, <br>Old friends, just casual sex, <br>We'd been together so long, we had<br>No clue what would happen next, <br>I thought that Linda was furtive, <br>Making eyes at Ben in the dark, <br>And I was caught in a whisper then, <br>With Beck in our local park.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then Ben and I found the silences<br>Embarrassing, hard to bear, <br>Where once we'd laughed and we'd joked<br>That camaraderie wasn't there, <br>Then Beck had told me he'd soured on her, <br>And Linda, too, went strange, <br>So when we swapped, we schemed and planned<br>With our partners out of range.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'I think he's planning to murder me, '<br>Said Beck, on a tearful night, <br>When she curled up tight in the sheets and cried, <br>And seemed in an awful plight, <br>'I wonder what they're planning now, '<br>She said, in the early dawn, <br>Then I thought of Linda's silences, <br>And Ben, and I felt forlorn.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then Beck had told me she loved me so, <br>And drove me out of my mind, <br>I knew that I'd do most anything<br>For the wife of my former friend, <br>She said one day that she had a plan, <br>To rid herself of Ben, <br>'But you must do what you have to do<br>When I phone, and tell you when! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I tied the yacht to the outer Quay<br>Drove homeward, just as we'd planned, <br>I thought to report the following day<br>That she'd left for another man, <br>But when I opened the old front door<br>I saw them sitting there, <br>Both Ben, alive, in the dining room, <br>And Beck with a frightened stare! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Where's Linda, ' Ben was the first to speak, <br>And I just froze - he knew! <br>But Beck said, 'I tried phoning her, <br>I thought she was with you.'<br>And then she showed me the frosted cake<br>She'd worked on all day through, <br>'It's for your anniversary, <br>She'd planned a surprise for you! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I pulled the cell phone out, and stared, <br>The phone had been my wife's, <br>My own I'd left in the den downstairs, <br>That message cost her life.<br>'It's done! ' meant the anniversary cake, <br>I hadn't said a word, <br>Now Ben looked long and hard at me, <br>'Where's Linda? ' - then he stared! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">I said that she must be out somewhere, <br>Then opened a cask of wine, <br>Sat back, as Ben filled the tumblers full<br>I knew, for the final time.<br>'Here's to your anniversary, '<br>He said, as we drank the toast, <br>And I thought I could see by the window there<br>The shape of my Linda's ghost.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But Beck had choked on the wine, and gasped, <br>Her mouth a purple hue, <br>She stared and sighed in a faint surprise<br>As the truth came into view.<br>'She's dead, my friend, did you think I'd lend<br>My wife for the sake of yours? <br>I knew the play and it ends today, <br>Where's Linda - Dead? Of course! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There wasn't another word to say, <br>We sat and drank in the dark, <br>With Beck spread over the table like<br>Some rag doll, left in the park.<br>I read the anniversary card<br>That Linda had left for me: <br>'To the only man I have ever loved...<br>On our anniversary! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">14 February 2010</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=David+Lewis+Paget">David Lewis Paget</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365864" data-title="Strip Jack! de David Lewis Paget" data-description="We'd been caught out in the yacht that day, 
A storm blew up in the lee, 
The clouds had gathered at four o'clock
In the wake of a rising sea, 
'It's looking grim, ' I had said to her
As we spun the bows around, 
And headed in to the distant shore..."></div>
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