Only Dying Roses
by Linda Seaton
from Lionel Luthor
" Every Day
I ride with falcon to the river's edge
Or carry the ringed mail upon my back,
Or court a woman; neither enemy,
Game-bird, nor woman does the same thing
Twice;
And so a hunter carries in the eye
A mimicry of youth."
William Butler Yeats. I have never cared for Yeats but he makes a forced march into my imagination this time every year. Your shabby first edition of Yeats still rests on the bedside table where you left it, Lillian. When you had bought the book from that mouse-ridden shop in London I had warned you that you might get the plague; you had squeezed my arm and told me you already had it.
Now, you are so many years gone from life and I stand at the base of the stairs of what has become known as the Luthor ancestral home. The Luthor family manse? No. The Luthors were horse thieves and spent more time in prisons than castles. I rented this place, sight unseen, so I could seduce a woman.
Adriana Ramsey, with the green eyes and twenty million dollar trust fund, had led me across most of Europe before she agreed to attend my New Years Eve party -- a party that I had to plan and execute in three days. And only hours before the gala had begun I had stood in this spot and laid bare all my hopes and dreams and desires to Adriana. The look of horror on her face surprises me still. Unable to speak, she ran from the room. I almost pursued her but then I heard someone on the landing above me draw a breath.
You had been trapped halfway down the stairs by the scene of the madman frightening the girl. You looked at me and smiled almost apologetically. And then you said with a surprisingly sure voice, "Maybe she was 'struck dumb in the simplicity of fire'."
Yeats. You had quoted Yeats. And you were the one I kissed at midnight. And you were the one I married three months later. My father told me I had finally done something right; for once, I believed him without question.
This house which Lex tells me is nothing but a monument to my own ego...You had told me you wanted to see it before you died. The doctors wouldn't let you travel so I arranged to have to have the whole estate transported. You had laughed when I told you my plan and reminded me I was a pragmatist and not a romantic.
The house was completely finished almost a year after you died. You never walked through the doors of the castle while it was on this side of the Atlantic but I think at the last it pleased you to know I'd do something so ridiculous.
And everything is the same since we last occupied this room.
The grounds, you probably would not recognize. I had almost all the flowers in the gardens replaced with Yeats roses. You loved Yeats and the rare hybrid rose with the strong, bitter scent seemed perfect. Growing wild and uncut, the roses have overrun many of the stone walls and roadways. I hope someday that they take the castle.
I climb up the stair toward Lex's room. I'm debating on letting him sleep until dawn or rousing him now. Then the roses -- vermilion and violet in the half-light -- catch my attention. They rest in a large crystal vase on a side table just outside the boy's room. I lift the container with one hand and open the door with the other.
The door opens soundlessly but Lex stirs in his sleep. I hurl the vase at him with all my might.
tbc....
by Linda Seaton
from Lionel Luthor
" Every Day
I ride with falcon to the river's edge
Or carry the ringed mail upon my back,
Or court a woman; neither enemy,
Game-bird, nor woman does the same thing
Twice;
And so a hunter carries in the eye
A mimicry of youth."
William Butler Yeats. I have never cared for Yeats but he makes a forced march into my imagination this time every year. Your shabby first edition of Yeats still rests on the bedside table where you left it, Lillian. When you had bought the book from that mouse-ridden shop in London I had warned you that you might get the plague; you had squeezed my arm and told me you already had it.
Now, you are so many years gone from life and I stand at the base of the stairs of what has become known as the Luthor ancestral home. The Luthor family manse? No. The Luthors were horse thieves and spent more time in prisons than castles. I rented this place, sight unseen, so I could seduce a woman.
Adriana Ramsey, with the green eyes and twenty million dollar trust fund, had led me across most of Europe before she agreed to attend my New Years Eve party -- a party that I had to plan and execute in three days. And only hours before the gala had begun I had stood in this spot and laid bare all my hopes and dreams and desires to Adriana. The look of horror on her face surprises me still. Unable to speak, she ran from the room. I almost pursued her but then I heard someone on the landing above me draw a breath.
You had been trapped halfway down the stairs by the scene of the madman frightening the girl. You looked at me and smiled almost apologetically. And then you said with a surprisingly sure voice, "Maybe she was 'struck dumb in the simplicity of fire'."
Yeats. You had quoted Yeats. And you were the one I kissed at midnight. And you were the one I married three months later. My father told me I had finally done something right; for once, I believed him without question.
This house which Lex tells me is nothing but a monument to my own ego...You had told me you wanted to see it before you died. The doctors wouldn't let you travel so I arranged to have to have the whole estate transported. You had laughed when I told you my plan and reminded me I was a pragmatist and not a romantic.
The house was completely finished almost a year after you died. You never walked through the doors of the castle while it was on this side of the Atlantic but I think at the last it pleased you to know I'd do something so ridiculous.
And everything is the same since we last occupied this room.
The grounds, you probably would not recognize. I had almost all the flowers in the gardens replaced with Yeats roses. You loved Yeats and the rare hybrid rose with the strong, bitter scent seemed perfect. Growing wild and uncut, the roses have overrun many of the stone walls and roadways. I hope someday that they take the castle.
I climb up the stair toward Lex's room. I'm debating on letting him sleep until dawn or rousing him now. Then the roses -- vermilion and violet in the half-light -- catch my attention. They rest in a large crystal vase on a side table just outside the boy's room. I lift the container with one hand and open the door with the other.
The door opens soundlessly but Lex stirs in his sleep. I hurl the vase at him with all my might.
tbc....