Twenty Years: Jamie Fraser

Twenty years without his anchor and home,

Yearning for blood of his blood, bone of his bone.

Beloved wife and child never seen,

Their life he ensured by making her leave.

A sacrifice so painful and great

He thought their loss his terrible fate.

 

He rode to Culloden Moor to die

He awoke to find he had survived.

Captured, he awaited to be shot,

A boy’s debt of honor determined not.

The redcoat officer sent him home

Left with broken body, heart, and soul.

 

His sister’s determination saved his life,

A life filled with grief and internal strife.

Everyone thought Claire had left him or died.

He couldn’t explain, and inside he cried.

He prayed see them safe dear God,

And in his dreams at night she trod.

 

He longed to touch her, he loved her so,

His heart bleeding, cold as the snow.

A bleak existence he lived for his crimes,

Seeing his family from time to time.

Solitude the Dun Bonnet’s companion.

Surrender saved his family from famine.

 

His cave he traded for a prison cell

Loneliness and sorrow, too great to tell.

Chains of iron, cold and gray

Laird of broken men he became.

Then stripped of pride once again

Sent to Helwater far from his men.

 

A willful girl used blackmail and deceit,

And in her virginal bed she conceived.

His child he saved, but could not claim.

He watched him grow and hid his name.

To protect the wee boy, he had to leave,

His heart filled with longing without reprieve.

 

Now a stranger where he once roamed,

He felt alone, although he was home.

Marriage vows made because he was lost.

Companionship carried a heavy cost.

So once again he was a man alone,

Happiness and love never to know.

 

A smuggler, a printer, an author he became.

Danger he sought to ignite a flame.

Fragmented man of many names,

His life and home never the same.

Responsible as always for family and men

Soon to be labeled traitor again.

 

But she loved him still through time and space.

Determined to find him to the print shop she raced,

And walked through the door to an unknown fate.

He heard, “It’s Claire,” turned, and saw her face,

That beautiful face that was his heart

Two souls reunited, never to part.