A walk to talk and clear my head.

Mooonlit walk to chat on the phone

with a far-away friend who feels like home.

Skirting puddles in shoes not water-tight,

the cold water only visible by moonlight.

Their reflections are serene and silvery,

each puddle beaded up like mercury.

Fall is coming and my arms are chill

soon frigid air my breath will fill.

My heart is pumping, my step is fast--

talking and walking puts the breathing last.

I miss her I do, and our cozy chats over tea

and I nostalgically sigh at the full moon I see,

shrouded up there by a comforting midnight blue…

why are tranquil walks like these so few?

©Ellen H. September 2013

For Cassie.

Walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love.

Bastille, "Pompeii", acoustic version. Listen while you read.

I often have soundtracks for while I write. This has become one of those today. The lyrics are a beautifully haunting poem, yet vague enough to mean what your brains wants it to mean.

"I was left to my own devices
Many days fell away with nothing to show

And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Grey clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above

But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?"

For me, today, here's what my brain makes it say:

"Many days fell away with nothing to show"
I'm just doing day-to-day life without bigger-picture goals being accomplished.

"walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love"
I live in my second-hometown, a sweet and comfortable-enough place to live, but it's less and less ideal to me, losing the luster it once had for me.

"If you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?"
I get sentimental a lot; about past friends and childhood places. Sometimes I try to bring those things back by pretending nothing has changed. But it's clearly a delusion. The past is past.

I just gotta be an optimist about this anyway. Strive forward, Ellen...

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytie995zY-Q)