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BY DAVIDMURRAYLAW@GMAIL.COM

Bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.tripadvisor.es/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g189171-d10121655-i290759367-Prado_Bridge-Braga_Braga_District_Northern_Portugal.html

 

 

Prado is its name

 

a village without fame

 

save for its Roman bridge.

 

 

They said I was the first foreigner

 

to pass it over

 

in almost two thousand years.

 

 

A loira - the blond - she was

 

I mention her because

 

I fell for her

 

the village beauty

 

as fair as fair could be

 

but with a tragic history.

 

 

Five years before, on one weekend

 

as was the custom then

 

the blond travelled with her namorado, her boyfriend

 

to a party at a neighbouring place

 

where she could showcase

 

her beauty and her dance.

 

 

That night

 

there was a fight

 

between two men claiming her heart

 

the boy-friend would depart

 

not to be seen again

 

until his body was found floating

 

down the river running

 

under the Prado bridge.

 

 

I sometimes reflect upon the inequity  

 

imposed on this young lady coping with the destiny

 

of one who had loved

 

at fifteen without a ring or a document

 

in a village where an adolescent

 

was not expected to make precedent.

 

 

I wanted to wipe the tears from her eyes

 

I wanted to bring back her smiles

 

alas there was nothing I could do

 

she could never love again

 

after this had happened - way back then.

Click to read in Spanish

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