An Angel Sleeps (Survivor Challenge 13)

I enter the safe haven Of the dimly lit diner A welcoming warmth Strokes my chilled skin As my body quakes In disobedient shivers My bones ache With icy pangs And my muscles are rigid From my long and bitter journey As I trickle puddles onto the floor In frozen pools of water The odor of greasy breakfast Singes my nostrils And the clangs of busy dishes Sing a consoling melody As I traipse to the corner And claim my seat With an hour to waste Before help comes I order a breakfast Of runny pancakes and charred sausage And I absorb my surroundings For the first time In the corner sits an antique jukebox Belting out sad country tunes As the lights flash on and off And keep timed beat With the rhythm of the music As if it’s revealing the story of it’s own life Two truck drivers Are engaged in cordial debate As they smoke their cigarettes And drink their coffee I feel reassured By their relaxed camaraderie Then she caught my eye A mysterious beauty With a tear stained face Her pouty lips curved down As they quivered with the effort Of holding back her wails Her cryptic eyes Flashed with glistening tears Like opulent emerald jewels Caught in the moonlight And they betrayed her strong reserve As she cried silently in the shadows Oblivious to my vigilant stares She began to say a prayer Parched lips barely moving With hands gingerly clasped atop the table And a torrent of tears Accompanied her insistent whispers She captivated me Kept me spellbound in her sorrow As I became wedged between Her world and mine And her suffering swathed me In a blanket of anguish Her arms moved and I followed their lead Shocked to see her encompassing a young child As he rested his head upon her breast And smiled in the comfort of the muffled echo Of mother’s heartbeat His eyes were a lifeless blue Edged by dark shades of gray And I noticed he had his mother’s lips As I imagined what his youthful smile Would look like Pasted upon her conspicuous face Her trembling fingers Ran through his thick hair As she placed an affectionate kiss Upon his forehead and whispered in his ear A chuckle escaped his lips In feeble and broken gasps She embraced him snugly As the tears came with more vigor And she was unable to smother her sobs Another prayer was shaped from her lips And I tried to decipher her words To concede only one …….”Amen” I felt the urgency in her prayer As I recited one myself For this stranger, this woman Who innocently held me confined In her prison of heartache As she pleaded for something I knew not Then her tragic story Unfolded before me In twisted waves of misery Shoving me to my knees As I watched in horror The calamity unfurl The young child Her precious son Gazed tenderly at his mother And in a diluted voice, he spoke “The Angels are here Mama” And she gathered him in her arms Her tears tumbled on his limp body As he fell silently to his everlasting slumberMy fear of losing my children surfacing once again. Written April 11th, 2002 © on Apr 11 2002 05:12 AM PST   0 • 1