He saw her again
the girl who wasn't
the imaginary one
she slowly sauntered
through the fading
of a dream
to the other side
and sat quietly
at the end of his bed
Smiling like the Grinch
perfect dimples at both ends
of her sugar red lips
eyes as full as the moon
ready to ******
she never said a word
out loud
but spoke in perfect clarity
to his heart
“What a strange joy we find
in the need to love”
She stood and wandered
from here to there
soft as a ghost
she stopped at his bookshelf
running her fingers
down the spine
of the books
pausing from time to time
to pull one out
flip through the pages
stop
and read for a moment
sometimes laughing
sometimes sighing
sometimes hiding a brief sob
He laid under the cover
of his blanket and sheets
careful to be motionless
fearing any movement
would cause her to vanish
from sight and memory
as if she heard his thoughts
and perhaps she did
she turned and smiled
“What good are our eyes
when we look at the things
only our hearts will remember
and are memories anything more
than dreams of things
that once were
played infinitely on the repetition
of the waves crashing at the edge
and shores of Oceans End?”
She turned back to the books
tilting her head
continuing her ritual
she would occasionally turn
fireworks bursting in her eyes
show him the book
she had freshly picked
from the crowded shelves
and then bring it to her chest
right over her heart
and hug it tightly
her impossibly wide smile
growing somehow wider
she nodded with approval
before turning
and placing it back
in the crowd
He didn’t know if
it was night or day
or how long he
had been laying there
watching her skim over
pick up
and read through
book after book
he tried to stop himself
from thinking about
the reality of things
of how she was
the girl who wasn’t
the one he imagined
when his heart was
at the verge of feeling
too lonely
for too long
when he feared that
the comforts of solitude
would become...
uncomfortable
And on cue she replied
to the thoughts
he meant not to think...
“Silly silly boy....
who imagined who
was it me or was it you...
go back to sleep
and when the stars
have time again to dream
I will see you
as you will see me...
never more and nothing less
than some imagined dream”
She hugged one last book
and placed it tenderly back
smiled as warm as the noon day sun
paused at the bathroom door
resisting the urge to turn around
and see her empty bed
“who imagined who...”
she laughed at herself
looked at her reflection
in the mirror
faked a smile
an impossibly wide smile
and started to hum
“Somewhere”
and stepped into her shower
thinking to herself
someday...
someday...