echoes

For those human moments of reflection & reminiscence…

Fleeting visions of a world long passed

Remembered only when the last drop of liquid scorches our tongues

In between blurred outlines of faces and bodies and stars

And a ringing drowning out the beat uniting us all

Do we remember

Happiness. The sand between our toes as our hands brought dreams to life, sculpting castles and kingdoms

Our mother’s laugh before she knelt to place a tender kiss upon our forehead: joy before we even knew what joy meant

The golden sun engulfing us in its wake, our faces turned toward the sky, eyes closed in silent contemplation

Love. Endless, breathless nights spent entwined; a mess of limbs and soft whispers

Fingers and foreheads touching, promises left unsaid but understood

Brilliant emerald eyes reflecting the sun and the stars and the moon and the ocean;

everything, all at once

Freedom. Hearts devoid of pain, as light as the feather of a hummingbird

A breeze caressing our chins with the gentleness of a mother embracing her child

The blue sky beckoning to us, claiming that we too belong among the clouds

Now…

We exist without existing

Numbness and exhaustion creeping up our every bone and crevice

Surrounded by humans, we search for distractions and comfort

But find no humanity

We survive on bottles of champagne

And nights spent gazing up at the stars, connecting constellations and wondering when we’ll be a part of them

We were once mountains, untouchable and free

But we remain rocks, for the world to do with us as it pleases

…We remain echoes,

Forever cursed to live our lives chasing time

Losing ourselves in the memories of who we once were and what our life once was, clutching to them with a grip so tight, too tight

Waiting and waiting for the inevitable to take us by the hand and free us of this devastation

And all we have left of the world that was stripped from us

A world of certainty, possibility, hope, and peace…

Are echoes.