“We’ve come a long way.”

 Oh, a very long way. But where are we now? The question is foreign, unspoken. We’ve come a long way, yes, but we’ve never been here before and we don’t belong. Not here.

I still have memories of when we were young and bright, like the time we stayed out in the yard all night. Our parents kept calling, and I wanted to go inside, but you held me down and rubbed dirt on my face. And years ago…
Remember those two kids sharing a lollipop with rainbow swirls? It was such a bright day, I was faintly dazzled stupid in the glinting glare, and it made me loosen my fingers, for just a second. And you said those silly things to me. You made me pinky swear, remember? Do you remember what you said?

“Take this message to your grave.”

            Yes, that’s what you said. Then you took my hands and we stood in the dusk, just as the heron stands, out on the red bluffs over the bay. We watched all the children playing on the beach. They swam out to see how far they could go, maybe half a mile, too, before the water got above five feet. We used to do that, to have contests. You’d always stick your tongue out at me – a sign of true love, I always thought. Now we just whisper to each other quietly.

It’s so different now, a whole other world. We’re not children sharing candy. We knew it then, and we wanted the world to know. And you yelled out, remember? Over the bluff?

“We were lovers since we were born.”

            That’s it.

            “Stop… Please.”

            That’s what you yelled, only no one heard you over the wind and the gulls and the children. And two years later, we found ourselves there again; we were older, but if we’d had our way, we would have never changed. We would had stopped time, frozen the hours. We’d make our home in a fortress built of ivory towers - that’s what we told each other – and we wanted to live in the timelessness of the sorry and strange. You yelled it again – about being lovers – only there were no children that time. It was colder and rainy and no one was there but the fishermen on the pier. ‘We were lovers since we were born,’ you yelled. Remember?

            “And forever and ever you’re mine.”

            Exactly! That’s what you said. And we wanted to be kids again. But we never really had time to worry about aging, after all.

            “Please stop. Please?”

We got wrapped up, caught in the crossfire of a raging battle. Maybe we were targets, maybe accidents. The two warring factions drowned us, anyway, and our frightened screams were lost under the din. Do you remember? Remember how we tried to run? To escape the churning, clashing fray?

“Just stop. I can’t –“

Do you remember?

“Yes. I remember.  When we turned to break free, but we couldn’t get away.”

Yes. So you turned to me calmly, said you had something to say, even through the noise of the two endless armies. But they paused for a moment and leaned in to listen. Your voice cracked a little and you said, ‘By the sword –’

“ – by the sword, take this message to your graves; forever and ever she’ll be mine.”

But the armies laughed vilely, violently. And we drew our bent bows – for the final round as two lonely hunters who had never been alone. As long as we hunted together, we were alive. Our victory cry meant nothing to our enemy, but we were singing, remember? We were crying and singing the same song we’ve been singing since we were children, years and years ago. You just held my damp face and stroked my cheek… You stroked me cheek… And for days resigned silence was our fetid fare. But you still spoke to me. It was very reassuring. You made me smile every day.

“I still do.”

Not forever?

“Forever. Remember? Remember what I tell you every day?”

I remember. We’re castaways, loners, rebels. We’ll –

“We’ll be loners. We’ll watch the world burn and we’ll laugh. And you’re mine forever and ever.”

But we’re so tired now. I’m so tired and hungry and sore. We’ve drunk it down to the dregs… It’s fitting that we sing and cry like old drunks now, don’t you think?

“Like Peter-%#*$ing-Pan in %*$#ing Nevernever Land. We’ve made our mischief. Now stop it. Just try to eat.”

            I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe, Peter. Oh, God, I can’t breathe!

            “Ellie? Ellie? Nurse! Nurse! Somebody help me! My wife… Nurse….”

“Forever, Ellie. You’re mine forever.”

Author guidance for This story

Prose version to go with poem. Hope it clarifies.

updated Jan 1 '01 by Lyre