{"id":228,"date":"2016-01-07T11:32:56","date_gmt":"2016-01-07T15:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freerangepoetry.com\/?p=228"},"modified":"2016-01-28T20:42:39","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T00:42:39","slug":"the-ghost-of-old-oxford-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freerangepoetry.com\/?p=228","title":{"rendered":"The Ghost of Old Oxford Road"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Old<\/a>
Old Oxford Rd, Durham, NC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The old ghost of Old Oxford Rd,
\nhe “fell off his horse,” so I’m told…
\nBut his wounds look quite vicious,
\nwhich makes me suspicious
\nthat they just might have been caused by gold.<\/p>\n

Jack Hewett, in life, was his name,
\nand women his typical game.
\nHe’d bet on a horse
\nAnd on dice thrown, of course,
\nBut he usually bet on a dame.<\/p>\n

Jack came to Durham one year
\nhunting for rabbits and deer.
\nOn George Clement’s farm,
\nhe stayed safe from harm,
\nand usually stayed for a beer.<\/p>\n

He’d come over from Hillsborough way
\nlooking for game, for to pay
\nfor his room and his board.
\nBut, in hunting he scored
\nmore with his staff than his sword.<\/p>\n

He rode over to Chapel Hill
\n(which, you know, is remaining there still),
\nwhere he charmed a young thing
\ninto having a fling –
\neven though she had ne’er inked a quill.<\/p>\n

A young nun known as Sister Rowanne,
\nshe saw only a big handsome man!
\nShe’d been wedded to God
\nbefore puberty’s nod
\nhad changed her, as puberty can.<\/p>\n

In the Chapel for which town was named,
\nthat poor nun wound up quite ashamed –
\nfor to do what she done,
\nwhile being a nun,
\nwas a sin that was not even named!<\/p>\n

Her order did not take it kind,
\nbut old Jack, he paid never mind.
\nHe’d won and he’d wooed her
\nand rightly he’d screwed her
\nand he put her straight out of his mind.<\/p>\n

She tried to forget the damn stud,
\nbut the moon waxed and waned without blood.
\nShe swore and she spat
\nwhen she knew she’d begat
\nand she cursed that his name should be mud!<\/p>\n

Her order said they would disown
\nwhen they saw how her belly had grown
\nWith no star in the East,
\nThey declared her a beast
\nand she reaped what the man Jack had sown.<\/p>\n

Her cousin up at Knap of Reeds
\ncould do what a young mother needs
\nHe delivered the lad
\nbut the story turned sad
\nfor Rowanne’s buried out in the weeds.<\/p>\n

No grave consecrated for her,
\nfor the church said her soul they’d abjure.
\nHer last words to her kin
\nwere, “commit one more sin,
\nand somebody kill me that cur.”<\/p>\n

Her cousin had made goodly pound
\nand, as doctor, was easily found.
\nHe made known that Jack Hewett
\nshould be hard pressed to it
\nshould anyone see him around.<\/p>\n

A bastard named Will Arendell
\nWas the fellow who first “saw Jack fell!”
\nBut an erstwhile nun
\nwith oven… and bun…
\nseems to have paid him quite well.<\/p>\n

Rowanne’s cousin had furnished the purse
\nbut, dying, she uttered the curse:
\n“Let his personal Hell
\nbe the spot where he fell,
\nregardless of body or hearse.”<\/p>\n

Arendell, he knew Hewett from dice,
\nand had heard that his head had a price.
\nOut near Clement’s farm
\nwith intention to harm,
\nhe startled Jack’s horse with some mice!<\/p>\n

The horse reared and the rider, he fell,
\nand the cobblestones did their work well.
\nOn the road to Oxford
\nWilliam drew knife and sword
\nand made sure that Jack went straight to hell.<\/p>\n

So Jack Hewett haunts Oxford Road
\nand he will, while his debt is yet owed.
\nWhile the sunlight can shine
\non his only son’s line,
\nthose cobbles remain his abode!<\/p>\n

Jack’s spirit is seen when the sun
\nlights this path through this deep forest run.
\nBut when the ghost sees a habit,
\nhe will run like a rabbit,
\nrather than gaze on a nun!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The old ghost of Old Oxford Rd, he “fell off his horse,” so I’m told… But his wounds look quite vicious, which makes me suspicious that they just might have…<\/p>\n

Continue readingThe Ghost of Old Oxford Road<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freerangepoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freerangepoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freerangepoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freerangepoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freerangepoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=228"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.freerangepoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235,"href":"http:\/\/www.freerangepoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions\/235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freerangepoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freerangepoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freerangepoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}