So We Walk

One among many but he looked longingly at the sea next to him. She always called him, and he was named for her.

“Ocean Flying”.

His eyes glazed with memory and he was a boy again, giggling as only the little do. Her touch on his ankles. Her bite charming even when cold. She would forever be there; he knew without doubt. He couldn’t hold back the smiles. Memories of other times came unbidden as his clothes got wet in just that moment. He was allowed innocence again while his eyes shut tight to this world.

The gently kissing wind turned him to the trees. He watched the slow, tortuous beauty of the blossoms departing and their long but gentle spin to earth below. It took longer than his years for them to touch this ground. Radiant, pink, white and purple.

How quiet they were.

How resolute.

He breathed deeply. If not for the stamping of horses and the acrid smell of fear, he would fly. This little boy born of sea and sky.

The blossoms, the sky and the sea spoke but it was just a whisper to the moment. They begged and lost. Their wisdom and pleas ignored.

Blood with the flick of an ungrateful finger. As always, the great ones set the rest upon each other. He looked upon his mother as the soldiers unsheathed blades and screamed their cries. He looked to the trees as the first wave advanced to certain death.

The sky above grew thick with pieces of wood and metal. He turned away from the beauty and raised his shield to the ugly. Many fell in so little time, even a blossom spun longer.