Rain droplets stab and explode against
the window pane in relentless sheets
of unforgiving mercilessness.

Light crackles of lightning in the night sky,
and a low rumble of thunder
the gray skies outside match my mood.

I rise and close the blinds
curtains come down,
house is bathed in darkness
save for the candle I've just lit.

I carry the candle over to the dining room table,
sitting in the chair.
It's silent, save for the pattering of rain
on every surface outside.

It was only one year ago.
One year ago when we were sitting
at this table of mahogany and oak.
One year ago when you smiled a smile
that I cant forget, and never will.

One year ago when your laughter was the music of my life,
the start of the soundtrack to my hapiness,
when your touch made me feel alive,
when being in your arms made me feel
what it was like to know and feel,
to truly feel what tangible love
felt like.

My eyes a re blinking back tears,
and my heart is beginning to break.
I put my head in my hands and let it out,
the tears streaming down my face.

It was also a year ago today
that the local police came to my door.
A year since everything blurred my vision
when they looked at me with such sympathy in their eyes,
being the ones that had to tell me.

A year since upon hearing them, my knees gave way,
and I was feeling the absolute shock.
a year since I got so deep into depression that
I nearly drank myself to death.

Somehow I found a strength inside of me to go on,
the pain doesn't get any less,
but I deal with it better now.
At this moment, I am failing, as I slump in the chair.
Through a shaky breath, I utter three words to the darkness.
"Be here .... now."

I blink, and suddenly, I'm far away.
Far from the house, far from the sadness, far from my pain.
The pains been replaced with a vision.
The sky is clear and blue, dotted with a few fluffy clouds.
I'm laying in a filed of green, and i sit upright, looking around.
I ask to the landscape Where Am I?
A voice answers.
It's a voice i never thought I would hear again.
Does it matter? you say.
I turn and you are there.
I squeeze you tightly, never wanting to let go
of you ever again.

We walk through the greenery together, hand in hand.
You tell me something that I would hope you never say.
I'm killing you. You need to let go, sweetheart.
I tell you that I don't know if i can.
You take my hands and whisper something to me.

Something that I know I used to whisper to you.
Memories of you being sad, angry or upset come
rushing back to my synapses, and I would whisper
to you three words. Three words that snapped you
right out of any bad mood you were in.

We embrace eachother for what seems like forever,
we kiss eachother's lips for a long time.
And abruptly, it just....ends.

I snap awake, gasping for breath!
I calm down and my eyes turn toward the window.
The storm is passed I notice as i open the curtains.
The candle's been burned to the quick, snuffed and done.

But there's something else on the table I hadn't noticed before.
A simple band made of gold.
Your wedding ring.
And on the inside of that ring, the three words.
I pick up the ring and read them aloud, with affection and conviction and strength.
Love. Every. Day.

Thank you, wife and beloved, always.
I promise I will. In loving remembrance of all you were.
And all you still are.

It's then that I hear a familiar voice in the air,
but very faint, barely audible.
Thank you husband.

(comments encouraged and appreciated. Thanks for reading!

I have read this twice I still don't have the words to express all the emotions that I felt when I read this... You have an unbelievable talent. I am humbled.

Dont you make me blush.....don't you make me--


......DAMN IT!