Silhouette

Awake as always at four bells Call of nature, best alarm clock Frozen by the sight Could it be a trick of the light Just a short pause and glance at the floor There it was thirty-two years and never Saw it before, until this morning Etched in the oak wood flooring Installed thirty-two years ago when they first Bought the house on the lake Was a perfectly depicted etching of His recently deceased wife’s face He shook his head, squinted his eyes Blinked several times, yet there it remained A perfect silhouette of his loves face He unconsciously whispered her name How could it be real? He turned his eyes And turned back, it was there All these years and not once did the image appear to him It existed in a single board four inches wide Roughly six inches in length was the silhouette Paralyzed by the sight he grinned and then laughed She had found a way to stay with him after all Sixty-seven years they had been married Sixty-nine years they had been together Cancer had taken her away just four weeks previous He walked away and came back Stared down at the floor board Thinking it would change, but there it was His loves face etched by the grain And natural lines of that one four inch Wide piece of oak flooring He stood there transfixed when suddenly He was bought back by the buzzing of his cell phone It would be his little girl She called every morning just to check on him She was sweet like that Should he tell her? No, it might be that she would not see it He was not yet convinced it was not just some trick Of his mind; old age was not always kind to the human mind Every day for a week he stopped each morning To view the silhouette in the oak floor He would smile each time to see his loves face He went to see his son for a weekend Thought about mentioning the floor board Changed his mind It would be his secret He could visit her in his own way Never really talked to her much Not his favorite thing to do in life She could be annoying to talk to She asked too many questions Could never accept yes for an answer But oh that beautiful face Just as in life he loved seeing her beautiful face He was a blessed man