Short Stories

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Emerald Epiphany

I watched as the twinkling beacon of the lighthouse slowly vanished over the horizon.
The bubbles of white water continue on and on behind me
in a trail, churned up in my effort to move away form the Irish shoreline

Another cigarette, another breach of confidential latitude,
the answers to all the questions I had when I arrived here last spring.
Lost in the sea spray, is this story.

I wound my way across the beautifully painted scenery, with thatched roof houses
and cobblestone streets, castles and ancient roadways.
I saw where the world ended on Donnegal Cliffs
As the ocean opened up so vast, stumbling in the vertigo, I was mesmerized.

The rain began as I entered Northern Ireland.
Concrete barricades and twisted barbed wire
hid the mysteries of the green Isle.

With my cousin, who chose to live and love her unsettled surroundings,
I dwelt behind bolted doors in the shadow of the sun.
Hot tea and hours of conversation took us back generations, salted by the light,
blood that linked us together, she would speak for them as a witness to me.
Intensely I listened as she held me captive and slowly
revived a graveyard in a time I could only imagine.

In the morning I found myself alone in the house
I could smell gunfire on the mist
drifting in from the other side of a bolted door.

My cousin stood in the yard hanging clothes out to dry.
Then the thunder shook the air.
Looking through the kitchen window, I watched her fall.
Rain clouds darkened the green
in a yard full of clover as nameless faces slowly walked away.
I ran to hold her.

“Look into me” she said as I rocked her tightly
and guard your dreams with no remorse.
Forgive the world for my sake and I will take you with me in my heart."
She took a last sigh and slipped away
from this earth clutching wooden clothespins.

In anger I cursed the lucid trail of misery
that moves over the emerald Isle.
The rain came down as I held her in disbelief.

Weeping with God, pleading to transcend life back into her
as pools of water ran red in the garden.

Time and space burdened the loss.
It left me standing on the other side of the bolted door.

The warmth of the sun beat down on me and made me smile
in the black of a suit, I wore that Sunday morning.
Stepping out into the procession headed down the street
we followed the chiming church bells.

Then I understood the price and why they did not kill me
along side of my cousin. The price Shannon paid for being neutral
in the streets, she loved so dear. Would I to have to choose sides or die
under the silent power of my convictions.

Peace can only live in the hearts of those that seek it.

Wanting, a craving inside
yearning to escape, scratching and clawing
fighting to feel the exterior
of this diamond plated surface.

I felt the breath on my neck.
Soft fingertips trace the moonlit glow on my face
I can taste the salty perfumed softness
of your skin in your warm embrace,
slipping into the night under the cover of ecstasy
and I turned only to confront all I had left

Grace I remember, everything I had in you. Everything I left behind.
I watched as all my promises fell from your eyes.
I pulled away, trading you for passage to my family home,
a place where all my questions would finally come to rest.

I want to hold and love you forever
never leaving the boundaries of home again.

Now as the ship slips through these waves,
the spray of mist, cold and invigorating
mixing with the bitterness I feel, this reality so surreal.

A shadow of land in the distant water will bring me
where the sun stretches along bustling docks.
I know the sounds of tugboats and day ferries
will end this ride in the busy channel.

Shine for me, my beacon!

I will search for you remembering always,
the true coast lies where the lighthouse stands
waiting for me.

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