Shades of Shadows

She drifts through the visions of someone else’s life, searching for an essence of purpose. She wonders where the one she loves has gone. Why does she feel so lonely, so lost and detached? She roams in the soft twilight in this city of ornamental sepulchers, and pauses to inhale the scent of crumbling roses that have reached their climax. Moss hangs from the trees like hair turned to mold on a humid summer night long ago. The trees whisper to her of dreams she can’t digest. They tell her she is part of their world now, and grasp at her with claws of confinement. She breaks away and moves into the deepening shadows. There he is, standing silently with head bowed. His gaze blurred, his heart rent with desolation. She moves closer to look and feels her mind unfold. Her name etched forever on a shrine of granite. She reaches towards him for comfort, but her arms only circle back to clutch at herself. The wind sighs, the night bird calls to her lover and he, stands shivering in his coat. Lelah Walters 10/09/09