Your heart beats across the sea, the mountains, the desert
Softly
You’re in a shitty African hospital, with wet, moldy walls or is it bombed out Bosnia … no, it’s somewhere on a bad road, and you are hurt and have lost track of time
You make it out of bed and throw up on the floor, lean against the wall, you are dry and notice somebody in the hall looking at you
His face is like a mask
He walks away with a sheet covering his body
You think it must be Halloween
Then you leave your room and see a light at the end of the hall
You walk in the dark, a candle or two around, and the place is quiet
The night is hiding from the war
At the end of the hall there is a room and you look inside and see a new friend, a companion in this fucked up place
He raises his head and his eyes light up
You are hope for him, a way to get better, a conversation about something peaceful
You touch his arm, he’s burning up, and he mutters backward words, echos in a thin vessel
You see things in his face … you see his parents, a town, a girl, a different life and they are in the very back of his eyes, living in soft light, like the softness of your heart, and it is all there at the back of his eyes, and you know he is never going to get out of bed
You are hollow, tired, an old man beating his fists against the wall
You walk back to your room, step in your vomit, climb into bed, and you dream, as if you were someplace else and things are soft, grey oatmeal, and you fall into the soft beat of your heart and the soft breathing of the guy down the hall, and in its own way, the dream is timeless, formless, and unlike him, you will live another day
As always Duke, strong visceral images , this time highlighting something tragic in getting old which I can most certainly identify with…and the war.
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Wow Duke. Sometimes it’s hard to face another day. Especially when old ghosts come to visit. You did a great job with the voice … it’s hypnotic.
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The raw power of two characters exchanging words with their eyes, not their mouths.
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Duke I think the line, ” You see things in his face ” pretty well says it all . Danke bud !
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