The flesh that still binds me 

     is no longer his host

Sometimes I wonder 

    which of us is the ghost

His spirit is free 

    of the physical realm

In life I don't feel like 

    I'm still at the healm

Just out of reach 

    he lingers there

Sometimes it feels like 

    he plays with my hair

This big house used to 

    give me a fright

But now I look forward 

    to the creaking at night

If the noises I hear 

    are not caused by wind

I fall safely to sleep 

    knowing 

       it's 

          only him

Sometimes he gathers 

    up enough power

To remain visible 

    to me for an hour

I spend those precious 

    moments of time

Pretending to feel how 

    he used to be mine

He talks to me 

    when I really listen

But he stops when he sees 

    the tears start to glisten

It's usually always 

    the same message I hear

I need to forget him, 

    it's been a year

If I forget him 

    he says he'll be free

To move on to whatever 

    is next 

       without 

              me

I know it's selfish and 

    I know he knows

That I will be nothing 

    if he ever goes

When I break down 

    and cry in despair

I feel his fingers 

    run through my hair

I need him to be there 

    when I lose my mind

If not, I know I won't 

    come back next time

He's getting stronger 

    and he gave me a wish

Last night I was able 

    to again feel his kiss

I know he can't always 

    stay here with me

Sometimes I think I should 

    claim 

        death's 

             decree

Take my own life, 

    I don't need it any more

Just to be with him, 

    invite death to my door

When these thoughts come 

    crowding into my head

He always appears with 

    his face turning red

He burns with an anger 

    he never showed in life

It keeps growing hotter 

    til I drop the knife

He believes I should embrace 

    all that is left

Of a life that no longer 

    feels like a gift

I suppose I really should 

    release him from me

Let him move on and 

    leave me here empty

I know that when 

    I do let him go

My heart will bleed 

    and I won't 

       stop

          the flow.

“Do you remember this place?”

Of course she did. 

It was our summer getaway, our after school paradise. How could she forget? Redwoods lined the trail, their woolly bark snagged on the limber trunks of unwelcome eucalyptus. We’d sit on a bench made from a pair of unlucky stumps, suckling honey sticks and sipping fresh squeezed lemonade bought from the general store down the road. Shadows danced across the sandy soil beneath our feet. I tried to reimagine it as best I could but it’s hard with only a few crayola crayons and inkless ballpoint pens. I’m hardly an artist, but I think she remembered. I think...

“How about this one?”

Of course she did. 

Our tree house. Her house. She lived in a forest of light where the leaves were always painted gold by the sun. She would tell me about the magic of this place. She would spin tales of the faerie hunts in day and the howling mists at night. Between each tale, we’d take a break to gather ripe blackberries from the bushes planted snug against an overgrown fence. Shirts plump and filled with bittersweet loot, we’d scurry back to the safety of our scrap plank fortress before the Ground Gnomes ate our toes.

Do you remember this place?

I wanted to ask but the words never came. Of course she did. How could she forget? The broken glass still smothered the gravel, baked in the heat of the sun. It was impossible to tell rock from shard, shard from rock. The smoke from the engine was thick and nauseating. It forced me to realize what had happened. Her hand was on the hood. Only her hand. I didn’t want to draw this.

“She’s still here,” I whispered.

“Of course I am,” a voice replied. “Someone’s gotta’ clean up this mess.”

The nurse had been weaving in and out of my room for hours now, folding my clothes and rearranging my belongings, putting them here and there and back into the places she thought they best belonged. “She’s still here,” I repeated.

“Oh,” the nurse sighed. “This again? She’s gone, honey. Don’t you remember the accident? It’s why you’re here.”

“I’m not here,” I argued. “She’s still here.” I repeated myself again and again. “She’s still here. She’s still here. She’s still here. She’s still here.”

I never noticed the nurse leave the room until she returned, and with company.

---

“Do you remember this place?”

Of course she did. 

It was our third time in solitary confinement this week. No drawing could do justice the loneliness of this small, vacuous space. A blank sheet of paper would suffice. But I’m not alone... right?

“Do you remember this place?” I asked again. “Do you remember this place?”

And again.

“Do you remember this place?”

And again.

“Do you remember this place?”

Of course she did. 

How could she forget? 

She’s still here.

She's always here.

A whisper

A breath

A word

They're dead.

A shadow

A shade

A look

They're gone.

Flying, Falling

Crying, Dying

Rising, Reaching

Found and Lost.

They speak softly

I softly speak.

I watch silently

They silently watch.

In the end, they're dead and gone.

In life we were always three.

Daughter, Mother, Grandmother see?

Our love for each other runs deep.

Even Death could not apart us keep.

When at night I lay me down to sleep,

That's when my mother I chance to see.

She takes me shopping just like we used to do

only now she brings me a message or two.

My Grandmother also visits in my dreams

It is easier to communicate this way it seems.

I'm at her house,

she always has some wisdom to pass on

to me or my spouse.

I always feel their love when I'm with them,

When I wake up I am happy and content

these were dreams well spent.

Love is the tie that binds.

When you have this strong a family tie,

It stays in your heart, soul, your mind

even Death cannot change those designs.

Soulmates are forever,

a flame that burns for the other.

Love is all enduring, all encompassing

Eternal.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8RYIsFg-rZJZjlUcy16UFJ1Mm8

Upon that day, I knew who you were;

The look in your eyes, the beating of my heart -

It was all too apparent that you were the mate of my soul.

And yet, I did not know it;

We realize what we had, often, only after we have lost it.

I neglected the beating in my heart and that look in your eyes;

What a fool I was, to think either of us was granted tomorrow!

And then, after playing the fool,

I was awakened to the stark reality of who you were, the mate of my soul.

The car, the crash, the blood, the thirty hours of fighting in the hospital to live -

All of it awakened the beating of my heart and drove me violently out of my foolishness.

You are the one who was the mate of my soul,

And I was a fool to wait to act upon it.

Now you are gone.

I see you, daily;

I hear you, moment by moment.

You consume me -

My eyes see your phantasm walking through the room; they see your eyes, that look in your eyes that I am ashamed to myself for not acting upon.

My ears hear your voice calling to me from the room which we ought to have entered together, but never did;

I heart your voice sounding with a saddened love and a desperate longing.

And though my eyes see you, and my ears hear you,

My hands have not touched you -

And your hands have not touched me.

And I know by the look in your eyes, the sound of your voice, that my touch is what you want - the lack of which is the cause of your saddened love.

Day in and day out,

Night after night,

I see you constantly - yet always out of touch.

Maybe I ought to join you, perhaps then we can touch.

- Mr. DH

Words and thoughts......not enabled and apparently not allowed between the living and the dead. She does speak in dreams to me though. Nightly.

I can see her clearly....cannot touch her but I can feel her even more real than before. Just in a different way, almost as if she is flowing through me and connecting with ........ joined with me. I don't have a word for it.

I feel her every intention and her moods.. It is as if by breathing her in and having her wash through me.

Today she was being really silly and playful. She does this a lot. I know that she works hard to keep me here just like before.

She has adapted to this new life (?) much better than I and she lets me know that it is important that I keep myself intact.

She made me stop listening to the Smiths and told me to quit drinking. That helped a bit.

I tell her about this huge void that has become my way of being and she pulled a duck face at me.

I whisper that I love her and she smiles.

Each night she sits alone in the old armchair

There she would sit breathing in the stale air

Her house was dark and uninviting

The overwhelming silence cruel and biting

Void of love and any feelings

Faded wall papers and dusty ceilings

It wasn´t always that way

Her home was a palace once back in the day

Bright and warm alive and cheery

It wasn´t always this cold and dreary

Before she held dinner parties and entertained friends

She wore pretty dresses and followed the trends

That is where she met her beau

Just one sight of him set her face a glow

He was handsome and tall

She was petite and small

A fine couple they both made

They would dance and dance as the music played

Such happy times and extravagant days

He´d send her candy hearts and red rose bouquets

They were in love their fates entwined

To everything else they hearts were blind

One day he got down on one knee

With ring in hand he asked “Please marry me”

They wed on a hot summer’s night

The frogs and crickets chirped with delight

With honeysuckle scent heavy in the air they said their vows

There beneath the weeping willows bows

Both so happy for a year and a little more

Then her beau went off to war

Each week or so she´d get a handwritten letter

It made her worry less made her feel better

A year later she heard he was coming home

But not to hold her but to be buried under a head stone

Since the day she laid him to rest

She´s been distant she´s not been at her best

Around her the grand house fell apart

Along with the remaining pieces of her heart

So now she sits nightly staring at the spirit of her beau

He vowed never to leave her and she won´t let him go

----------------------------------------------

© M.Withers/M.Strudwick . All rights reserved.

Both the name The EriduSerpent/EriduSerpent

and any written material is owned solely by the above named.

Permission granted for all written material to be shared but not for profit.

Printing or publishing is prohibited without seeking permission first from said owner.

I see your name

written in the flashing lights

like a one-sided conversation

painted in the morse code of my mind

I’m a little buzzed

they serve me drinks in plastic cups

You used to smell like cigarettes

I couldn't stand it

I dream of glass

I winced when he dropped my favorite mug and let it shatter in a million tiny pieces. Ty has never been too careful and now he was even more careless. 

"Shit!" I heard him shout about half a minute after the incident occurred and a smile slowly crept on my face as he finally realized what had happened and hurried to pick up the bigger parts, trying to piece them together. I had always loved just how little of a morning person he was. 

"That's not going to work honey, just leave it and drink your coffee. And make sure not to step into any shards, I don't want you hurt." I wiggled my toes and swung my left leg back and forth while slightly shifting on the counter top. I saw Ty's jaw work under his skin and he shuffled past the mess and sat back down to eat the rest of his bagel. 

"I don't have to go to work that badly today, I can stay." 

"No." I said sternly.  He looked at me, pleading.

"I worked extra hours yesterday, I can stay with Mii and you and relax, doesn't that sound nice?" 

I unfolded my legs and sat straight, he moved a little back in his chair and I almost felt sorry for making him feel small but I had to be clear.

"You can't. Mii is gonna be okay, your work however isn't. Mii will go to my sister and she will take her to kindergarten but you have to go to work. What if they don't think it's okay and you lose your job?" I saw the pain in his eyes, he knew I was right but I wished I wasn't. We both knew they were running out of patience at Ty's workplace. 

He scratched his head, those wild dark waves that wouldn't be tamed no matter what, something I loved so much and it made my eyes burn. 

"You're right, I'm sorry, I'll wake up Mii so we can leave okay? Rena should be here soon."

"Thank you, and sorry." He smiled sheepishly and wiped some crumbs away from the corner of his mouth. I moved my arm forward out of habit, wanted to do it for him and he looked at me for a second and smiled. I chuckled and he stood up and walked to our daughter's bedroom. A few minutes later a tiny messy haired girl that had everything like her father skipped into the kitchen and Ty followed suit. 

She moved her chubby arms up to both sides of her head and Ty nodded down and picked her up. He set her on the counter top and I moved to the front door, already anticipating the doorbell that was about to ring any minute now. Ty finished dressing her and packing her lunch and set her down on the floor and moved back to our bedroom to change into his working clothes. 

The doorbell rung twice when he was about to finish tying his tie and I laughed as he clumsily tried putting on his shoes and pick up his bag and also trying to pick up our daughter as he moved to answer the door. I ducked aside as he grabbed the handle and moved behind the door to both hide and make room for the two of them. 

"Rena thanks as always, you're a huge help!" Ty said as he put Mii in my sister's arms. 

"No problem Ty, her school is on the way to high school anyway. And I know it's been tough to take care of her alone now." I heard Mii fuss a little when Rena tried correcting her position. She said goodbye to Ty and made her way to school. 

"You know... You don't have to hide. They can't see you." Ty said without looking as he moved a little forward so he could close the door a little. I didn't miss the hurt in his voice and my heart broke a little more. 

"It makes me feel better, if I hide it makes me feel less of an outsider than if I just stand there and they don't notice me." I managed a smile and skipped from my hiding spot into the open part of the door frame and looked my husband in the eye. He squirmed a little and it was amusing so I smiled at him. He eased up as I did and sighed. 

"I'll see you tonight Ten, I'll be home around 8 and I'll pick up Mii and dinner." I nodded and waggled a bit. 

"I love you." My heart jumped. 

"Me too, get home safe tonight baby." I said. 

He turned and closed the door and I moved forward to hug him goodbye. 

I could never get used to just jumping forward and moving through him though. 

He turned around and made his way to work and I leaned back into the door, passing through it and sitting in the middle of our hallway. 

It has been a miracle that Ty was able to see me, so I wouldn't complain that he could only see me in the house since recently. 

I laid back, relaxing into our carpet and recalled the months that had passed since my death and having to see my family go through hell and back trying to keep themselves together and all the night I spent screaming trying to get them to see me and the relief I felt when Ty finally heard me. 

I didn't know how much longer I could stay here though.

@dLYNX

From the aching lungs of a mermaid, from her bruised, purple mouth, a melancholy song arose, matching in tone the greying skies. An angry ocean swirled her in time, and sentenced her to this-to forever witness her lover pass her by, and so tragically did he die, on the ship of his men, he never found peace. He was a walking dead man. He was a ghost in flesh. All her warnings were for naught, he heard her but could not stop the crash on the rocks that took his life ever and anon. She sung until her throat went dry, bleeding with terrible effects; she was caught in a current, struggling against it. But He remained a living echo, a ghost, he did not know where he was going anymore. The sea god of the ocean had claimed him as her own, using his soul to torture the fair mermaid girl. Always in reach, she could never save him. Always within arm's reach, she could never stroke his cheek again.