Sing To Me Instead

Stop The World - Come From Away, Lee MacDougall, Sharon Wheatley

They stood together at the lookout point, gazing at the view. 

"Wow. Just... wow." He exhaled and shook his head in disbelief. 

"The view is beautiful," she smiled, glancing at him, and then back to the sunset. 

"It really is. Hey, I'm just... going to take a picture, okay?" 

"Of course."

-

As she turned away, back towards the horizon, I snapped a photo. Not of the horizon - well, you can sort of see it in the background. It was a photo of her, the golden sun illuminating her face. 

I wish I could stop the world, capture the moment in a picture and make it last. We're still in it right now, but in a minute, we'll run out of time. This present will be the past. And so here we are. And here she'll be in this picture forever. 

I snapped my head up when she started talking. "Isn't this beautiful? Oh, I should move! You're missing all of the scenery!" 

"No, no." I raised one hand, still holding my camera in the other. "Stay where you are."

"Really?"

"Really. It's perfect."

-

I wish I could stop the world, seize and relish this moment. But the minute he goes, I'll be alone again, and it'll all be through. I need to pinch myself and tell myself that I'm dreaming. I'm delusional, I'm imagining all of this. He'll forget about me. 

-

Both lost in their thoughts, they gazed into the orange sea. Both of them wanted to freeze the moment, stop the world from spinning and revolving. They stood on the lookout, overlooking something worth taking the time to stop for. They had to stop flying by each other, avoiding the truth, they had to stop being scared and look up and see each other. They just had to tell each other. 

But for now, he would take a picture of the scenery of the lookout. A picture of the moment which is over. One of the ocean and river and trees. And stop the world.