{"id":14039,"date":"2017-03-08T15:51:05","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T20:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=14039"},"modified":"2026-06-08T01:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T05:03:16","slug":"stranger-in-the-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=14039","title":{"rendered":"Stranger in the Night (by JC)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0<\/strong>A Bonanza Gothic poem written for the 2017 “Once Upon A Midnight Dreary” challenge honoring the birthday of Edgar Allen Poe.<\/p>\n

Rating: \u00a0K+ \u00a0 (251 words)<\/p>\n

STRANGER IN THE NIGHT<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once upon a moonlit night<\/p>\n

A stranger on a stallion white<\/p>\n

Stalked the Ponderosa\u2019s Tahoe rim.<\/p>\n

A specter on a ghostly steed,<\/p>\n

To earthly thoughts he gave no heed<\/p>\n

As he strummed and sang a woeful hymn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Cartwrights all were snoring<\/p>\n

In sweet slumber, all ignoring<\/p>\n

The apparition near so pale and slim.<\/p>\n

They dreamed of golden tresses,<\/p>\n

Painted faces and blue dresses,<\/p>\n

Dancing girls, and lovely maidens pure and prim.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Through the curtains softly flopping<\/p>\n

Came the sound of clip clop-clopping<\/p>\n

Up to the ears of Cartwright father Ben,<\/p>\n

Who sat up, filled with dread<\/p>\n

And all his sons around his bed;<\/p>\n

He closed his eyes and prayed, \u201cLord, not again!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A song came slowly wafting<\/p>\n

Through the open windows, lofting<\/p>\n

A haunting melody in tones most grim:<\/p>\n

Lonely as he can be<\/em><\/p>\n

His spirit never free<\/em><\/p>\n

Rim, rim under the red rock rim* <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joe and Hoss both scowled at Adam<\/p>\n

As Pa glared and glowered at him<\/p>\n

And bellowed, \u201cAdam, that\u2019s YOUR friend out there!<\/p>\n

I know he saved your life but<\/p>\n

If he wakes me one more night<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll strangle BOTH of you! Now, is that clear?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adam pinched his nose and sighed,<\/p>\n

Bearing guilt and wounded pride<\/p>\n

That his best intentions caused so much uproar.<\/p>\n

As he turned to slink away,<\/p>\n

He had but this\u00a0to say \u2013<\/p>\n

\u201cYes Pa,\u201d quoth the eldest,<\/p>\n

\u201cNevermore!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*From \u201cSong in the Dark\u201d written by Judith George and George W. George (Bonanza Season 4, episode 16)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For a complete, up to date list of my stories, check out\u00a0JC’s Author Page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0A Bonanza Gothic poem written for the 2017 “Once Upon A Midnight Dreary” challenge honoring the birthday of Edgar Allen Poe.<\/p>\n

Rating: K+ \u00a0 (251 words)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10253,"featured_media":9682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1008,61,32,9,40],"tags":[673],"class_list":["post-14039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-missing-scene","category-mystery","category-poetry","category-challenges","tag-ouamdc","wpcat-1008-id","wpcat-61-id","wpcat-32-id","wpcat-9-id","wpcat-40-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/The-Robe-e1410283539118.jpg?fit=627%2C480&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}