She wore a long white dress
With a black choker on her neck.
Her hair pulled back and
A silver Columbina mask on her face
That’s how she would visit him in his dreams.
Three times a week
forty days after she died.  
He didn’t cry
She talked to him casually
“What’s the mask for?” he asked
She played with his greying beard
Stroked his face
“Open your heart again,” she said.
He got up, leaned on the bed rest
The blood in him started circulating
His face was red
She placed her head on his chest
They talked
She liked to hear his voice
Telling her about the small things
He had a wonderful butter croissant
He wrote for three hours
How he walked across the
Bridge overlooking The Seine.  
He talked more about
The big things he wanted to do
With the rest of his life.
He wanted to write a novel,
A fictional one based on the
Different faces she wore.

His heart beat faster
His voice louder than ever before
The birds, the trees and even the moon
took notice.
Then she was gone.

As one road ends, another begins.
Let go of the old one,
never getting stuck on it.
Take fond memories,
but walk towards
a new one.
Be excited, bewildered and
mindful.
Remain non-expectant.
Never comparing.
Never competing.
Life works in roads,
some steep upwards,
others steep downwards.
Life is a myriad of roads
that lead to nowhere.  
That’s why it’s all about
the different roads and how we
walk them.

And you remember, late in the afternoon
when we watched, the sea go all still and
become clear as if enveloped by a thick coat
of oil, reflecting the rays of the sun back onto
the cloudless blue sky.    

And you remember the blue turquoise colour
of the sea. How it looked compared to the tiny
waves that came crashing down.  

And you remember how the sun
turned dark orange and quickly descended
onto the eastern edge of the sea and disappeared
into the horizon without giving us enough time.  

And you remember the crisp Levant wind
coming in from the East,
striking us with a sting that sent
a shudder down our spines.  

And you remember how long
we held each other's hands
waiting for the moon to make its grand appearance.
And when it did arrive, it was full.
A magnificent full moon.
We looked at it together.
We looked at each other.
And Cried
Remember?

I'm off to work
25 minutes later
I'm on my desk.
It's empty.
The day passes by
so smoothly
Nothing to stir the heart

I'm in my car
it drives so well
Nothing that makes it stop

I'm back home
dinner at 7 pm.
Nothing exciting to tell

It was a good day.
A fab year
and a decade passes like that.  

There's strange odour
emanating from the ether
I look at my hands and feet
now covered in brown-orangey rust
I've turned into oxide.

The time is 15 minutes after noon,
It was 13 minutes after noon when I last checked
I am empty.
The shadow of my being
looms much larger than the tiny
translucent light that is lurking inside  
I'm standing inside my office
looking to the
cloudless sky  
the sparrows
that are not on the electrical lines
the seagulls
the Crows
that are missing from
the tops of the highest trees.
The roads are empty of cars like
a huge desert tarred
in black.  
There are no people outside
There are no people inside.
I walk down the staircase to the outside
to confirm what I witnessed from inside.    
The sun is directly over where I stand
I've never seen it as close
as I see it today.
I can feel the skin on my body melt
There is no air to breathe

I climb back the staircase to my office
and get back to my seat.

A small Robin hides on the
ledge of my window from the outside.
I open the window, and it
hobbles in
desperate to perch itself
on my shoulder.

She was wearing a red blouse
with a black choker around her neck.
Her neck surrounded by invisible kisses
that were indelibly marked by
his thick full lips.
Burning with pain and longing,
She took a swig from the
Bordeaux on the table
and as she held the bottle to her lips
she remembered the feel of his lips.
She gulped down her sorrows,
hugged her new boyfriend
and danced the night away.

The kisses came back to her as
soon as she lay her head on the white
silky pillowcase.