TastyTrack

The fog crawled in
And a boat’s on fire
Birch Reddy jumped overboard
And swam for the shore
The smoke was thick as tar
“You can’t see heaven, and hell’s not far”
Said Reverend Miller, at the parish door.

Birch Reddy’s lobster boat,
Burned out, black as a tire.
When the sheriff rowed out
There was nothing left to see
But the transom sinking slow
You could read her name like blood on a bone
He said, “I guess that’s the end of the Brenda Lee”.

Sheriff Eggers was
A God-fearing man
Afraid of nothing else
Except his wife’s rump roast.
But then as he rowed to shore
He had a terrible fright and he rowed no more
He thought he saw Birch Reddy’s ghost.

The sheriff coughed
And said, “who’s there?”.
Birch Reddy, pale as a curtain,
Waved like a willow tree.
He didn’t know he was dead.
“Poor Dot Miller”, was all he said.
And Sheriff Eggers watched him leave.

With dinner set
And chairs pulled in
Dot Miller bowed her head
As Reverend Miller prayed:
“Forgive us father, for our sins,”
“Keep the devil out and the angels in”
“And may every kindness be repaid”.

It was then she knew
What he’d done.
The good shepherd of his flock
Had put the black sheep down.
“Forgive me father for my sins”
Dot said as the blade slid in.
And then she cried for the lover drowned.

Sheriff Eggers rang the bell
Dot stood and opened the door
The Reverend didn’t get up.
Ever again.
Like the pork chop on his plate,
It was by the knife that he met his fate.
And every kindness was repaid.