The River

The River

We were young. We were in love. We were beautiful.


The days were young. They didn’t know much but three little words. From the times of playing pretend through the days of heartache and joy, they belonged to one another.She, a dark-haired  beauty with  dreams unknown to the world and he the dream that lived had a lifetime awaiting. Their hearts revealed their inner worlds. She, his world and he, her life. They found it simple and easy to be the other half.


Meet me by the river. Ah the usual spot. She quickly refolded the note and replied with a simple,I’ll be there. Their secret heaven , it brought back  fond memories. Long walks in the dark through the woods, hide and seek just before dusk. It seemed to be the only place peaceful enough to dissolve the worlds at war. Hours spent laying in grasslands, just the two of them made it easier to lay there and just forget the world. Forget what they had been told, what they had seen and just be.


She had a habit of humming offbeat and nervous-like bottom lip chewing , he loved that about her. She did not mind if he  took too many chances, won sometimes and lost often, she loved him. They were not perfect but they understood that love was seeing those imperfections perfectly. All that he was, all that he ever would  be was there in her perfect eyes and that was all he could see.


"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" the priest said mournfully, as Elizabeth sprinkled the last handful of newly dug earth onto her husband’s coffin. She remembered his last words, "Remember the river." Elizabeth had a hole in her heart, it was in the shape of her husband and no one else could fit, but the hope of the river was alive in her.


The River of Life
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

" I am  now old .I am still in love. You are still beautiful" she  whispered softly choking away the pain as they lowered her husband’s coffin. And then finally " ….I’ll be there."