The Queen of the Keyboard

Here's a modern take on the ballad of Barbara Allen, focusing on themes of teenage relationships, social media pressure, and belated realization:
 

Scarlet Heights, where screens alight,
Made every heart beat double-time.
A queen of clicks, with beauty bright,
Barbara, queen of online rhyme.

May's warm glow, on social feeds,
Jace tagged her, hopes alight,
But comments burned, like whispered seeds,
Mocking love in neon light.

"Swipe left," she typed, the message sent,
A digital dagger's sting.
His profile dimmed, with love misspent,
A broken heart, on silent wing.

Through filters scrolled, her laughter rang,
But whispers followed, cold and mean.
The birdsong mocked, "Hard-hearted fang,
Queen Barbara, a heartless queen."

Likes turned to dust, the feed went gray,
His absence echoed, loud and stark.
The news then broke, on that same day,
Jace gone, a flame extinguished dark.

Her screen went cold, the silence screamed,
Each "RIP" a burning mark.
She saw his face, no longer beamed,
And tears fell, in the offline dark.

Through fields she walked, where shadows swayed,
Ghosts of likes and comments danced.
Her heart, once guarded, now betrayed,
By love unvoiced, a fatal chance.

"Lay him down," she cried, at the grave's head,
"Let me see him, once more," she pled.
But screens and filters, all but dead,
Couldn't bring back what she'd shed.

No pixel heart could mend the pain,
No hashtag soothe the lonely ache.
A digital crown, a hollow reign,
For love unseen, a bitter break.

So let this tale, in every click,
A warning to the online queen.
For likes and follows fade so quick,
But love denied, forever keen.

In Scarlet Heights, where shadows creep,
A ghost of love, in sorrow sleeps.
Remember her, the queen who weeped,
For hearts unseen, too deep to keep.**

This modern version reinterprets the story through the lens of social media and teenage communication, highlighting the dangers of hiding behind digital facades and the consequences of neglecting true feelings.