The Pool of Promise
There may be battles yet to wage within his mind, but in his heart he knows that as long as she is there to kiss him he will always be victorious.
There’s a lyric to a song that just keeps echoing in my head.
Humbled, the wise man kneels before the sacrament of such a love. He has known the loss of all he cherishes vanishing before him, and the pain of numbness as he loses himself in his suffering. He alone knows the truth of his failures and the power it took to turn those misfortunes into a life worth living.
So he kneels before her, and he wishes for nothing more than for her to accept him as he is. He plants a kiss on her hand meant to say, “I have walked through anguish just to be here with you. I have beat back demons and darkness to see you smile. I wish it not to fade, and I will fight to see it last forever.”
Yet this man also knows he is often alone in the valleys he crosses and the hills he summits. He has walked with both reckless abandon and cautious purpose in the quest for what his heart seeks. He has felt the sting of a flower’s thorn and the sweet smell of honeysuckle. As the blood flowed from his flesh he swore oaths of aloneness. As the sweet fragrance touched his soul he promised he’d climb to find the flowers. The torment resides in which he longs for the most.
It is there he finds himself, knowing he craves her fragrance but remembering the sting of loss so great survival was uncertain. He plays with the wounds scattered about his being, knowing the next one may be his last but hoping the last has already been inflicted. The confusion spins his head to dizzying heights and unexplained lows. If only he could see the future.
It is then he reaches for her and she smiles at his touch. They lean inward and their lips meet in the space between their hearts, melting all that separates them into one pool of promise. His fear evaporates though he knows it will return. It always does, but for now he knows she loves him and nothing else seems to matter. There may be battles yet to wage within his mind, but in his heart he knows that as long as she is there to kiss him he will always be victorious.
She whispers something in his ear, and he sighs. Moments like this show him what could be. The fight over, the climb no longer alone, her hand holds his as together they touch the sky. There will be no fear here, only two hearts and one soul facing life together, never to be defeated and never to be questioned.
He whispers back, and she moans in response. Their lips meet again and his mind again settles into the music of his heart. He hopes she can hear it.
