a/n: refers to events in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire"
Holmes and companions do not belong to me.
Based on an Irish stanza form, the ae freislighe.
Point of view of the older son, except for the last verse.
Trust
She can't replace my mother;
I know she'll never like me.
She kept me from my brother
And raised a hand to strike me.
~0~
I'm close at hand should father
Begin at last to doubt her;
It's true that I would rather
He chose to live without her.
~0~
She cannot watch forever;
I'll use my head, tread lightly
And wear her down or sever
The ties which bind them tightly.
~o~
Concerns will not be spoken,
She can't respond and name me;
My father would be broken
If she should ever blame me.
~0~
My plan is almost ready,
My baby brother's sleeping;
I'll take my time, go steady,
Slip through the guard she's keeping.
~o~
The dart, well aimed, is flying
And hits the target, clearly.
She's startled by his crying,
This act will cost her dearly.
~0~
Her face, now white and bloodied,
My father's sad conclusion;
The facts are blurred and muddied;
I savour this confusion.
~o~
I note with satisfaction
That trust is torn and shattered.
I'm certain that this action
Will bring back all that mattered.
~0~
So, bonds are stretched and breaking;
Despair is growing stronger;
The choice he can't stand making,
He must delay no longer.
~0~
He has not yet rejected
The hope he's wrong, completely,
My plans won't be detected;
I've planned it all so neatly.
~o~
The day's events astound me,
I'm ruined by a stranger,
In no time he has found me
To be the source of danger.
~0~
How could my plans be thwarted
So easily unravel?
So now I'll be "deported",
Condemned to distant travel.
~0~
A father's trust is shaken,
As brother turns on brother.
A husband is mistaken;
A lost boy mourns his mother.
~0~
a/n2:ae freislighe:Irish verse form; 7 syllable lines in sets of 4. Lines 1 and 3 rhyme with the last 3 syllables; lines 2 and 4 rhyme with the last 2 syllables. Ends on a similar line to the first line.