Paradise Near Ocean

It was that blissful and cold autumn midnight the cool breeze kept kissing my body, it seemed as if it was in a race with those torrent waves of a tranquil ocean. The pale crescent moon sparkled like a silvery claw in the night sky. Heaven was full of silent stars and there was a moonglade on the water that felt

warm on her cold wrinkled skin as she held on the glass railings of the window. That was a special day she wore a white dotted dress that he had gifted her once. It was actually off-white now but she still liked it anyways and she loved to think that he would like to see her wearing it. That if he was seeing her she had a thin shawl wrapped around her shoulders. These days even a wild breeze sent shivers down her fragile body. Age has its own ways to make itself count she thought

grimacing at the sharp pain rising in her chest. These days such pains had become more frequent with everything becoming an effort, sometimes even breathing was an effort. She was once a pretty girl hopping around with boundless energy; her body supple her face pretty as

ever. Time is a strange sculptor; she reflected. The skin that was once fair and firm, slacked. The spot

where a dimple once formed when she smiled was buried in the many creases that crisscrossed her face. Sometimes the realization hurts; sometimes she just didn’t care. ‘Don’t worry about the wrinkles each

line stands testimony to the smiles we have had in life.’ He’d say. She began to walk out of herhome. She walked at the bench near the ocean which showed a dark blue

sea. She looked up at the blanket of the stars that stretched to infinity. She hobbled along and finally she was there. She smiled a little to herself she had made. The bench. Their bench. It is where they had spent many evenings together -sitting, talking,

laughing and sometimes in solemn quietness just looking out into nowhere. She seated herself;

the bench made a slight creaking sound. She sighed. Her thoughts lingering on things past. She

started walking down the memory lane that she shared with him. The quivering sea was hoarding it's might power. And it was dawn. She then dug her hand into her pocket and fished out an

envelope. Her hands trembled as she opened it to retrieve the letter inside. There was a surge of

emotions that play within her at a moment. The paper had turned yellowish, almost crumbling.

She she adjusted her glasses cleared her throat and faint hint of a shy smile playing on her lips.

As if she was about to make some sort of speech before a grand audience; as he was with his all

ears and engulfed into her speech. Slowly, steadily, she began to read.

Dearest Ema,

You were a phantom of delight,

When you first gleamed upon my sight, 

A lovely apparition sent, 

To be my life’s ornament, 

Be my life, be my love, 

Let’s be together till the end of time! I wish you a very happy birthday!