Place Devoid of Shadows

For one blissful moment, I see your smile. It fills my stomach with frantic butterflies and makes me giddy as a child at a carnival. Your arms outstretched, racing to be caressed by my warmth, not knowing it is you who gives my heart its flame. Our heads lean in, growing nearer until I can all but taste your sweetness. I dream of the moment I delve into you, and you into me, and we swim ever in our insatiable desires, an aqueous, consuming conflagration.

Just as I begin to brace myself for our cascading love, our lips within the same paradise, and yet without… You turn, and your pristine, flushed cheek passes me by, just out of reach in virga seduction. Too soon I make acquaintance with the image of your departure. Your proud shoulders, a wall barring me from the sun and I freeze, my veins ice cold, eyes glazed over.

And for a moment, I despair.

The hope of your return remains a smoldering ember deep within me, but not enough for my frost-bitten fingertips. Unable to reach for returning love, they grow numb and immobile.

For a blissful moment, I see your smile. You round the corner… I knew you would. I give a glance, then turn away before offering any flint or flicker of vulnerability. And as I walk away, I feel the sun’s gentle rays brush my cheek. Their warmth returns and I grasp the cold steel handle of a train bound for the top of a mountain, fingers prickling. I emerge from beneath your shadow, and forsake all others. My True Love beckons me in a place high above the world, a place devoid of shadows.

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