‘Ode to Marie Anne’

By Harry Riley

In a cottage by a river

Down a valley deep and wide

Lived the daughter of a killer

From his sins she tried to hide

Marie-Anne had kept a diary

Since the day he went away

As she tried to find the reasons

For his actions on that day

In the township people waited

Flags were flying- bells were ringing

Happy crowds of people singing

Bands came marching

Trumpets blaring

Open coach came into view

Could the victims know

What struck them?

 As the bullets swiftly flew

Would they die in that grim way?

Watching people waving cheering

Knowing it was their last day

To a cottage by a river

Down a valley deep and wide

Came a stalker, entered

Breaking, smashing, wrecking

Found the diary he’d been seeking

Coming home the young girl cried

She had named the guilty killer

In the record as her father

On the green banks of a river

Stood the young girl waiting hither

Soon the stalker came to join her

Both were wading in the water

As it rose to take them down 

Daughter held on to her father

Smiling as he tried to drown her

On that bright and sunny day

Those two bodies washed away

Lightning flashing, thunder crashing River rising, pine trees falling

Earthquake shaking, cottage breaking

All goes under, bar the swimmer

Choking, gasping, arms outstretching

 As she makes her fight for life

Comes the morning, sun is shining

In the valley all’s returning

Marie-Anne is saved from drowning

By the young man passing by

 He has found his life’s new meaning

 As she thanks him, breath-returning

 Marie-Anne, the killer’s daughter

Starts a new life full of laughter

With her partner by the river

in the valley deep and wide