My Bess ©

My Bess and I have been together
through good and bad
in all kinds of weather.
We’ve fought the battles her and I,
she’s heard me curse
and seen me cry.

I’ve caressed her tenderly
and rough, when times demanded.
I sobbed when age disbanded
our life together.

I had her first when we were young
and strange to the touch.
So new and highly strung,
but I oiled her as a lover should
his mistress reclining
and I knew her every mood.

She slept in my embrace
for oh, so many years
and hot my streaming tears
for losing her.

Now someone else holds
My Brown Bess.

Author's Note:
The Brown Bess musket... Used by British troops during the Napoleonic Wars.