An Echo

From seemingly impossibly far away, yet dramatically near: Footprints seen, clearly ones left behind there in the sand, but footprints from a nigh mythic beach, one all but impossible to find; The myriad Mystery, the Puzzle of Life solved, but then gently taken away from one, and wisely hidden once again; All material things, tenuous --- perhaps a small, still pool of liquid mercury in a bowl, evaporating, becoming "nothingness": Words festive, prominently painted on thrift store decorations (eye catching words, words like "Hope", "Learn", "Smile", - "Giggle", "Love", "Peace", "Family", "Live", "Laugh", "Honor") displayed at the front of the townhouse, by its green front door. And there: A beautiful profusion, an intriguing, colorful, exotic - tangle of gaudy, dollar store decorative plastic flowers, leaves, and vines. They all are there at, strangely enough, strikingly enough, the one and only townhouse --- one nestled in a sea of other townhouses, ones not decorated, almost barren looking ones --- where the surviving, grieving, younger brother was mercifully visited by both the consoling ghost of his older, departed brother and the Saving Ghost and was, so, left with Faith and Knowledge enough to once again thrive, and to carry on without his brother.