The Sheriff Of Honalee

“This is the Sheriff of Honalee!”
I bellowed into the dark
A smokeless silence came back to me
No not even one little spark

The whole damn town was there that night
They said that I had to be the one
They said that I’d seen this cave before
Long ago when I was young

Turn after turn with my torch and my gun
My feet did seem to know where to go
But my fire it shrank in the damp and the dank
I did stop there to let it grow

As I stood there in that dancing light
A chill crept into my bones
For what I did see before me then
Burned into the cold hard stone

There was a list of a hundred names
Each one struck through with a line
Through each name a blackened gash
Each one except for mine

Just then behind me I heard a sound
I spun around ready to attack
But I turned too fast and my torch went out
And I was face to face with the black

When finally I spoke it was the voice of a child
That fell from my chattering jaw
Said “I- Ive come to burn yo-your dragon heart
In accordance with the law”

I held out my gun and waited for a sound
At last from the darkness it came
His blast it knocked me to the ground
And I was blinded by his flame

Now it may have been my dear mother’s face
That I saw in my flashburned eyes
But she said “get ready for amazing grace
Jackie, get ready for your time”

It felt like forever on the floor of that cave
I could hear him breathing like a horse
But after awhile he slithered away
And I did take to rekindling my torch

That new light it found me alone and alive
But something in that cave it had changed
And right before I ran I saw it on the wall
The black line through my name

Yeah even to this day I can see it on the wall
The line going through my name