The Runaway Bride (Poetry)

The dress slipped from its hanger
and crumpled on the floor.
Night pressed against the window
as she slid around the door
and tiptoed down the staircase —
a rebel of a bride
she made her bid for freedom
and left the gates swung wide.

She wrote no note explaining
the reason for her flight —
she cared not for the bridegroom
she’d loathed him at first sight.
Her father was a cold fish
who’d traded her for cash
in hope to save his business
and halt its threatened crash.

She wouldn’t miss her mother —
a wholly selfish sort
too fond of wine and dancing
who never gave a thought
to any pleasure but her own.
How furious she’d be
forced to call the wedding off —
reduced to penury!

One suitcase gripped in her young hand
she travelled midnight’s road
cutting ties with every mile
and confident she strode
towards the modest railside halt
to wait the early train
her ticket money in her purse
no witness but the rain.

****

The household was in uproar
once they found that she had gone.
Her mother had hysterics
and the police were called upon
while gossip spread like wildfire
and her father wrung his hands
more worried for his business
than disrupted wedding plans...

The family became a joke —
the jilted bridegroom sued
for breach of contract while the bride
absconded — unpursued.
Her father went to prison.
Her mother hid her face
and never went outside again
but wallowed in disgrace.

What fate befell the runaway
is unrecorded, since
she disappeared without a trace
in search of her true prince.
And those few who still remember
all the scandal at the time
exonerate the rebel bride —
consider it no crime.