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A Christmas Tale [Part Two of Three]
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A Christmas Tale [Part Two of Three] |
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U K Hero Member
since 1999-08-08
Posts 266England |
PART TWO OF THREE A Christmas Tale On the Eve of Christmas, amidst the sounds of the season~~bells ringing, children singing…a small flat holds the silence of years. A little town in England called Monks Kirby abounds with caroling and laughter, but the tiny flat remains quiet, as if sound has never existed. One small light in the window glows A lamp upon the desk The oil burns long into the night With darkness comes no rest No joyful sounds come from inside Save the scratching of a pen Only silence lingers now Where singing once had been On Christmas Eve, a joy of joys It begs for her to hear To sing again with Northern wind And dry away a tear Blow hard, North wind Breathe true and harder still For tonight, together We'll dislodge this lonesome ill And the North wind blew… A lonely woman lives inside the small residence, ignored by her neighbors who won't attempt to speak to her. The room is so small it barely accommodates the three pieces of furniture ~ a large mahogany roll-top desk, a chair and a small bookshelf stacked with newspapers. On the top of the desk, next to the lamp, is a photograph in a simple wood frame. The picture is part of a nightly ritual where tears are shed over it, and then it is carefully polished and placed back into the glow of the lamp. The position of the photo is very important--there mustn’t be a glare on the glass to obscure the words in the bottom right corner: May we never marry Except to one another And if we part Then in solitude we tarry To pen our locality in paper Archie + Melanie France 1940 The lamplight a circle around her, she sits very still for a long time, lost in her memories Her eyes stare at the photograph The black and white of long ago Still feeling their hands entwined In silence yet hears his laugh, Her eyes don't wander from the image Though they freely flow with tears For there's never been an answer To all her letters these years, She'd penned them with promises Of Paris in the spring When June they danced on wishing stars And lovers' hearts took wing And the wind blew the lamp's flame… She had penned many an add in the personal column of the ‘Times’ and after many years received a reply from the local postmaster of a village called Littleworth, stating, that a man matching Archie’s description was residing close by. She penned many a letter to ‘Archie in Littleworth’ but never received a reply, she concluded that Archie must have found another, believing that he never forgave her for leaving him in the hospital. But all that changed when a week ago she received a strange letter. She remembers the day well, a windy day yet the clouds seemed to wait for an invitation to move. It was also strange that the postman didn’t rap on the front window to attract her attention, a daily ritual for which she was grateful. The letter read; Find a place of worship You’ll see my love is true Hear my heart in calling The bells will ring for you. The letter written in a strange ink was not signed, it had to be Archie who else! She deciphered the meaning as, meet me at the local church, but which one not knowing whether Archie meant her church or his. She penned her reply with date and time to meet; Dear Archie, We’ll meet at the local church On the eve of Christmas day, I’ll be there at 5:30 I’ve such a lot to say. Like the bells within the church We’ll find if love rings true I believe, I’m a woman worthy Eight years in wait for you. The day arrived, her final actions in the flat were methodical in action as if she had done them many times before, she placed her picture gingerly into her hand bag, sprayed a few drops of her favorite perfume onto her cheek turned to face the lamp, smiled, and left the flat… End of Part Two By UK Hero and the ultra talented Caroline |
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Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191Cape Cod Massachusetts USA |
Wow.... That's awesome!... and then what????  |
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Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612Hurricane Alley |
I can't wait...but I purposely put off reading these first two til I could read the last one!  |
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Dark Angel Member Patricius
since 1999-08-04
Posts 10095 |
This is soooo good I can't wait to read part 3. What comes from the heart goes to the heart. Samuel Coleridge |
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