Forever and Always

Autumn foliage clings to the earth as another spring lays dying. She walks there among the rustle of my thoughts. The ever-present sound of her steps upsetting nature in its serenity only long enough to remind that she, like the fall, is a thing of natural beauty. I'd paint her in my mind if I possessed the brush: Yet, I lack in conviction when set to wonder if I could carry the memory to canvas. I watch her as she looks up and offers a shameless smile, loving the appraisal of my gaze. The moment exists for us alone. To accent the point; her hair is drawn behind her ear with the delicate brush of fingers, exposing her divine countenance. She walks with slow purpose causing the sway of her hips to become quite appealing to my eyes. She was always a creature of such reform, a wisp of finesse. Her lip captured between her teeth, she worries it gently with her thoughts. Slowly pacing the grounds as she seeks a way to buy back the while. A moment in a lifetime of moments. Her laugh, so endearing to me, clutches at a heart that was wild until the day it set upon her. I'm captivated in the pooling oceans of her eyes. She said something then. I know she addresses me and yet the words fall short in my absence of rational thought. I'd kiss her, I know she wouldn't prevent me. It is a gift for the taking and so misplaced on a soul quite undeserving. I'd kiss her but then be drowned in the torment of wanting for more than she could offer. Another day, another week, or month, or.... or years. But I am off now to the coast, to port. She is off in my memories. An illusion of a misplaced past that could have been more than a fleeting moment. I stare now at the fields from my carriage with the turning of another autumn. I'm reminded of the place they lay her to rest. A winter chill having claimed her in all her elegance. I can't help but wonder if it were a heart turned cold and broken instead. But never slip by the words so vivid in her voice, so haunting in my dreams, "I love you, forever and always." In moments that are destined never to arrive, she waits. I left her waiting forever... I left her waiting for always. ~Wrote for a character of a book I was working on~