By sarah iristakeroot@juno.com
Date: 22 September 2000
they just breathed
the light was golden
the air dry, the warm breeze blowing gently
the land looked as though it was illuminated by a light within
a glow that seemed to permeate the stones and dust
the desolate life
there stood a woman, who walked silently, she stood for moments at times
just looked, and watching, quietly
an unrestful yet patient look to her eyes
a glint of hardness, yet a softness that seemed to come
a fleeting glance as though she had just remembered something, but
she couldn't hold on to it
she began to walk again, going about her life, her duties
the only other way she knew to do things
she wore a long robe, the edges of it dripped in the dust and sand
her feet stained a yellow, like tumeric
with dirt permanently incrusted into her skin, her work hardened hands
were long and slender. strong. like she
this woman knew pain and hope, and the crushing power of both
but the one thing this woman didn't possess was a memory
she didn't know where she began or when she knew she didn't remember
her life was a blank slate, tabula rasa
somewhere, once before there was a woman
who walked her life in sadness, she wore jeans and tshirts
and her eyes had darkness to them, and circles that ate away at her
once creamy flesh, her tender skin suffered under her sadness
as did everything else
she had the doubled edged sword of memory, memory of wrongs she had done
to herself, that she let herself doubt she let herself lose
and one day she did lose her life
all she ever wanted, she never achieved instead she passed on
only to wake up another woman without memory
but with a will of steel to become something
and the light was golden where she was, maybe it was desolate
but there was hope there
here stands the woman in her yellow stained feet
she stands apart, and in the distance a man spies her
just as he has spied her from lifetimes ago but never did a thing
never once thought of the sound of her voice intermingled with his
he stood on the hill, with the wind strong against his face, his eyes
squinting against the grains of sand that threatened his vision
he would not lose her again, over lifetimes
he had passed through his lives quickly waiting for her each time
just as she drifted away
and now here she was, devoid of memory, within hands reach if he ran
and run he did, he ran to her
grabbed her face into his hands, looked into her eyes and kissed her
and memory took her over, in a great rush, a flood
she trembled in his arms
remembering a man who she had only viewed for a few seconds from life to life
and here he was, holding her as if her lives had only been dreams
and neither of them, could no longer think...they just breathed.
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