Bravest Woman
I
am a working woman
with
children almost grown.
I'm
nearly fifty.
I
hope I still have a pretty face.
My
husband died almost three years ago.
One
cold winter day
a
old man shot him dead
through
our kitchen window.
He
was the father of a thirty year old woman
and
he thought my husband
was
having an affair with his daughter
down
at the bar where he used to go.
Life
isn't fair sometimes.
Oh
God I loved my husband so much.
We
were married nearly twenty years.
Lord
God he used to like to talk
to
people down at the bar.
He
used to like to talk
to
that woman down there.
He'd
go down there and sit, I know.
Lord
God he used to like to talk.
I
stumble through each day.
I
cry through through every night.
Sometimes
I think I'm a broken woman.
Sometimes
I think I'm broken.
I
don't know how I'll go on.
But
there's bills and bills
I've
got to pay.
A
home that needs cleaning
and
dishes to wash.
Children
who need lots of love.
Children
who need advice.
And
a house with a hole in the window
that
needs to be sold.
How
can I go on without my husband?
I
don't know if I can carry the weight alone.
Lord
God, I'm so alone.
I
miss his voice.
He
used to like to talk.
Oh
God he used to like to talk.
He
visits me in my dreams at night
He
cuddles me tightly. He kisses me softly.
He
used to tell me,
“Jessie,
you're the bravest woman I've ever known.”
Now
I hear him in the night softly say,
“Don't
miss me, please don't miss me.
I'm
here with you now. Don't miss me.
Jessie
you're the bravest woman
I've
ever known.”
I
get so mad at him.
Lord
God, he used to like to talk.
Liked
to talk to the pretty young women.
Liked
to talk to everyone.
Now
he visits me in my dreams at night
He
cuddles me tightly. He kisses me softly.
He
says, “Jessie don't miss me.
You're
the bravest woman I've ever known.
If
you fall down, I'll help you up again.
I'll
help you up.”
Lord
God I miss my husband
He
used to say,
“Jessie,
you're the bravest woman
I've
ever known.”
Last
night I dreamed of a great river
with
a boat to carry me across.
On
the river bank my husband was standing
I
walked up to him and he kissed me
He
said, “Jessie life is kinder than you think
Every
night in dreams you don't remember
You
travel to another land.
There
you and I are young again
And
together we sit and talk and laugh
drinking
iced tea
beside
a great cypress tree.
When
your days here are done
to
that distant shore you'll travel
and
if you still want me
I
promise I'll meet you once again
beside
that tree.
Jessie,
oh Jessie
You
are the bravest woman I've ever known.
And
the love we feel for each other
is
that cypress tree we meet under each night
with
roots so strong it will never know death.“
Dewey
Dirks
