A Vat Of Wine

Forty arrives with much joy and ceremony and a few strands of grey
Perched on the fence post, the same moon stares down like it has forgotten my name
Friends and kin ask ‘what are you waiting for?’

The feeling like an unbroken cord without a beginning tethers me to this road
To a familiar presence whose footsteps are hidden just beyond my reach
And whose thoughts make my heart rhyme like a medley of unforgettable songs

It began in another life, in an unkempt garden stitched with reeds and ivy around its edges and walls
An undying love bloomed among thorns and briers
And he promised with all the certainty of tides that he would find me again

A macabre time when egos ran high and men raised deadly weapons against one another
At a decade and half, he found me and we defied war and all the cruel odds against us
I relished my surrender to a love so sweet and consuming like wild fire

The garden blooms again awaiting his arrival but his promise blurs over four decades
Trees I once knew as saplings now cast shadows to shelter my grief
His place at my table sits empty for a man who never arrives

Sometimes I imagine him lost to quell my beating heart and fluttering butterflies in my stomach
Years of waiting have poured themselves into me
And filled me like a vat of wine becoming darker and richer

No longer the girl who first began waiting
The gentle breeze brushes against my skin and I feel his invisible pull again across lifetimes
What if somewhere he pauses under the same moon feeling the ache of my absence?

But I'll wait and when he comes, I'll know
For a bird must make its landing after circling the high skies for half a lifetime
By the sudden relief as the waiting leaves my body,
I will know.

I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. It's inspired by the Freewrite #dailyprompt phrase "a vat of wine".

Thank you for visiting my blog.

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