Then and Now...

Then:

The darkness cloaked her as she peeled off her second skin, exposing heart and flesh. The mirror blinked, taken aback. Her fingers fluttered around the scarred skin of her stomach. She looked carefully, leaning forward into the mirror staring into it; time had woven a web around her eyes. The room clouded up as desperation trickled down in a black streak from the corner of her kohl-lined eye. She blinked back and stretched and then curled like a rag doll on the bed as she sought relief. Monochromatic memories un-spooled in a scratchy film and sweat poured as she rose and fell buffeted around by waves of pain and pleasure. Eyes squeezed shut and hands balled into fists as she flashed-back to an endless parting. A Bergman movie in the making. Brutal loss.

Now:

She sits still. Like the glass lake she is watching. A blanket of contentment, still fragile but slowly growing, cocoons her. She nurtures it zealously, no passion winds are going to blow it away anymore, no carnivorous cravings are going to claw it away. She is determined. She glances up at the sky, a formation of geese is flying towards the horizon, slowly dissolving into oblivion. She gets up from the bench walking away; the squirrels are still racing after her for peanuts, but she shows them the empty bag and its almost as if they understand. Sombre fir trees stand in the prayerful solitude of church spires against the wintry sky. She looks up at a lone solitary star and smiles at its fragile brightness.

Her eyes are bright uncut diamonds and the mirror smiles back, a full silhouette of satisfaction. A discovering of simple comfortable uncomplicated love lighting up lives. A blessing.