Had I But Only Different Parent's

? My dearest, -- Had I been born to different parents, three lives would have spun differently, like threads redirected on the loom of fate. -- Perhaps I would have been bold enough to step from the shadows into the clean nights where you waited, your hands warm with your unspoken promise. -- Yet here I sit, unloved but by you and your wife—a quiet affection that shines like a single tear amidst one lonely cloud. -- Had our gifts been recognized and acted upon, might we have created a world together? -- Safe from the storms, we would have built a haven of music and art, a cathedral for compassion and empathy, kindness and happiness. -- Your voice will now echo through the sands of time, mine before birth in the stained glass, and we would be safe from those storms, far from the tempests of the others' unlearned judgment. -- The oceans and waves—oh, how I dream of them! Of fish leaping in the sunlit spray, of sunflower yellow mornings and the taste of salt on my lips. -- I would wear purple clothes and walk barefoot along the shore, unburdened by what I could not be. In the south, where the world turns slower, I would have found you again. -- You, a horse farrier with hands calloused yet gentle, and me, watching cars upon cars pass by, wondering at the swiftness of life. -- I am ready to submit, my dear, before I die—not to despair, but to the beauty of what might yet be. I submit to the joy of our shared existence, fleeting though it may be. -- And if I am to leave, let me carry with me the warmth of your kindness, the golden threads of your care, and the melody of a life that might have been mine. -- Do you still feel it? The velvet night calls, and though my steps falter, I am ready. -- Yours always, J.E.