Sunlight and Storms

Without Her

(A/N I wrote this for my creative writing class and thought I'd share it. This is my best poem from the semester tbh. I'm really proud of it.)

(Prose Poem) 

She hung the stars in the sky. She filled his night. Now, he, shriveled autumnal leaf, turning burnt sienna and drifting. Now, he burns, hears screams, pain engulfs. She locked those memories, now, the lock was broken and the Acheron rushed through him, echoe screams of the damned and scent of decay, coating his tongue in ash. Now, he breathed the smoke-filled sky and choked on the woes. The Phlegethon ran through veins– peeling his skin to breathe– as he watched the embodiment of Joy die. He related more with the fire leaves that fall every autumn, wondering if they knew that was the last time they would see their Tree. He certainly hadn't known his Tree would be chopped down, leaving him drifting. Sometimes, he saw her, in wind between trees, in dark between stars. She was a mirage of What Was, a ghost with no corpse. Still, she danced through the world. Her soft whispers whistled through willows, her tinkling laugh chimed through bells, her smile in every star. Golden strands of life– snipped too soon– twisting and strangling, leaving him longing for the Lethe. Forgetting appealed over lamentation. Though, she only remained in memory. Forgetting would erase her. Without her, the world shattered broken glass, raining down. She promised to love him in dusk and he in dawn. His Dawn will never rise again. Love comes in many shades, a scorned Love, a protective Love, a mad Love. A Love that can be crushed by Death entering this world. Without her, Love translated so easily to violence. Without her, the Laws of Time would obey him. Without her, he'd be Victorious.