Promised Place

 

In the midnight field, I lie with stars of fireflies. Resting here, it seems to me that I'm indeed alone with only the singing wind and stars as company. However, I'm not afraid as they are familiar to me as my own reflection. They quiver with wings that whisper questions onto my bare neck. Why are you here alone? I am waiting for someone.

     He helped her up the last crumbled rock and welcomed her to where the sky met the sleeping earth. Together, while their breaths flickered, they watched as the sun gave way to twilight. She glanced at him curiously, 'Why are we here?' For a while, he didn't say a word and the only sound was the dancing grass. 'Slowly, I am forgetting day by day. It matters not if I lose myself but to forget you is like living in a void' He caressed her cheek, 'Even though I will be gone my feelings for you will continue to live on. They will linger in the kisses of petals and flutter with the fireflies because as long as our sacred place exists, I will always love you.'

That is our promise.

    Stars. They are the memories of the living and the souls of the dead. And fireflies. They are the diligent carriers of lovers, connecting those that are separated. I breathe them in and pray that my soul will reach where he is. My long silver hair melts with the grass as I let out a breath. I am not what I used be. My eyesight has worsened and my limbs ache but I will never forget because our promised place still lives. I will continue to wait for the day that I will meet him again. How long must you wait for? Aren't you lonely? I'm not lonely as his memories are everywhere. Soon, I will meet him soon. My time is coming.

    She watched the machine as it copies his every heartbeat: the lows and the highs but particularly the lows. They said he was barely there and it was best if she bid him farewell. But to pull the cord, she didn't know if she could let him go but she won't have strangers performing the only role she had left. She clasped his cool hand that were always larger than hers and brushed them against her lips. Why. . . Even though he will forget her. . .Even though he will disappear. . .Always, she loved him and only him.

Farewell.

    I close my eyes as the fireflies slowly dance around me and engulf me. Until I become no more but a glow of moonlight. They breathed in my last thought and spirited me away with a curtain of lover's golden light. Finally, I am light and airborne. I am inside the bark of the weeping willow and I am the tears of the streams. I am the fireflies and the distant stars. I am no longer alone because I'm finally beside him.

We are our promised place.