Ichabod on the Bridge

 Ichabod stands on the bridge

And stares at the horseman

No head

Jack-o-lantern in hand

Ready to hurl the lit-up pumpkin

At the skittish schoolteacher

Ending a chase

That ran through the woods

Of Sleepy Hollow

On a terrifying night

That would one day become legend

But legends are like loops

That circle back around and around

Each time they’re told

Around a campfire

Or on a stormy night

As the wind rivers by outside

But with one telling

A mother was tucking her daughter in

And her daughter

A very smart little girl named Katrina

Asked if she could hear

The story of Ichabod on the Bridge

And so her mother told the story

Beginning with Ichabod

And the love of his life

And a party that went very late

And a cruel man who hated Ichabod

And a late-night ride through the woods

And the appearance of the headless horseman

And the rule Ichabod remembered

About the bridge

And how if you crossed it

You would be safe

But as the Ichabod in Katrina’s mother’s story

Got to the bridge

The little girl stopped her mother

And said--

I’ll tell the ending

When Katrina was handed the story

She took Ichabod to the bridge

But then stopped him

Had him dismount his horse

And turn to face the ghoul

Riding towards him

Katina’s mother warned her

That while she could control Ichabod

The headless horseman

Is the villain and that means

That the storyteller

Has no power of him

But Katrina was not afraid

For she knew the in’s and outs

Of the story

And she knew

That if Ichabod tried galloping away

From the flying, fiery jack-o-lantern

He would never make it

Right at the end of the bridge

He’d meet his own end

And the story would be

Unsatisfying for millions of listeners

For the rest of time

Katrina knows that the only way

To change an outcome

Is not to tell the story in a way

Where Ichabod’s horse runs faster

Or moves in a different direction

Away from the bridge

The only answer

Is to stop and stand facing

To the horseman

Katrina has Ichabod

Stand at the beginning

Of the bridge

And as the horseman

Comes hurtling towards him

Jack-o-lantern poised to toss

Ichabod, having given his horse

Permission to escape

And not look back

Falls to the ground

Katrina knows that even ghost horses

Are horses

And that when falling in front of a horse

It’s likely that a well-trained horse

Such as the one the headless horseman rides

Will rear back and halt itself

And so the headless horseman’s horse

Pulls backwards on two legs

And the ghostly rider

Goes flying off his steed

And the jack-o-lantern falls to the ground

In a pitiful plop

And as the headless horseman

Flies through the air

He is pulled up into the air

And becomes part of the surreal mist

That exists on carefully chosen nights

Where stories are made

Ichabod stands up

Wondering how it is

That he thought to drop to the ground

And seemingly vanquished

The tormenter of Sleepy Hollow

But in another time and place

A little girl named Katrina

Tells her mother

That she’s ready to sleep now

And she’s kissed on the head

And properly tucked in

While the story she told

May not be the story

That’s told to everyone

It was enough for her to know

That when you hold a story

In your hand

With an ending you don’t care for

You always have the chance

To tell it

Another way