encounter time...

On the brightest of days, in the clearest of woods, in and amongst all the trees, sweeping through all the bushes, Me and my Lover played. All day long we were swept up in this chase, this extravagant embrace. He ran and I followed, I hid and He found me. Lost in each others eyes, caught up in a beautiful dance. Were He went, I went. Where He looked I looked. I couldn’t get enough. I never wanted this day to end. The sun would set, but it would never fully go away. We played in these woods, with the sky painted that bronzed color of amber and swirled with majestic pinks and blues that screamed of royalty. The entire world seemed to echo in His eyes, and I am certain if I kept staring I would be lost forever. We played, and we danced, and we swung on the limbs of trees, and we swam in the rivers so deep and clean, we lost track of time, or maybe there was no time. I am not sure. And then He held my hand and I followed Him, He pulled me to this place where there was a lone but a powerful tree. The branches were strong just like my Lover. It would not sway, it did not move. Steady and powerful this tree stood. And in its leaves all the colors that made up the essence of beauty. And on its trunk, carved in the stump, my Lover had wrote our names surrounded by a heart. “Me and Him=Forever”. And there is stayed, the seal of our love. The proof that me and my Lover were in love, so deep, so rich, so pure. And in that day, time stood still. It is frozen in my mind. Every glance, every smile, every giggle. Every kiss, every embrace, every dance. I cannot forget that day. But now I reminisce on a different day- a day after much time has passed. This day I could not find my lover. I did not now where He went. What was He doing? Was I not on His mind this day? Did He not love that day as much as I did? Or maybe for that day to be perfect it had to be frozen in time and never relived. But tonight I began to remember that day and I cried because I could not find Him. I searched and I searched and I searched but I could not find Him. Did He lose me, or did I lose Him? Maybe it was me who forgot? How could I forget such a perfect day? But then, like a window had opened, I felt His presence so near me, so thick. And He whispered to me “I did not leave, I did not forget. I remember that day I carved our names into that tree.” And then He grabbed my hand again and took me away. He took me to another place, a place I vaguely remember but not vividly enough. Perhaps this was part of that day? But then He directed my attention to the top of a hill. It was a very high hill and the road to the top was rough and rigid, and if I am not mistaken it had the traces of blood marking the rocks. And I glanced further up the hill and there was my Lover. He was on top of the Hill. And He was hanging on a tree. But as sure as I remember my lovers face, I remember that tree. That was the tree so lone and powerful and strong, burning with life and love. And so I walked closer to that tree and as I came closer I began to smell my Lover and feel the coarse wood he lay on. And then I saw it. I saw the thing about the tree that resonated in my mind from that day we had played. I saw it, right under my Lovers feet, hanging there all bloody and torn, was the carving of our names “Me and Him = forever”. And as I stood and wept, His blood flowed down, filling every crevice of that carving, covering every nook, coating my name. And it was then I knew that my Lover never left me, He always remembered that day, I was always on His mind, I was engraved in His heart just as He had engraved our names on that tree. And He froze our love in time with His blood. His pure love of fire, that surrounded the heart. And forever engraved on the tree where He died, every fire of eternity wrapped up in His gaze. And He took my hand again and said “I died so that forever our love will remain!”

"Hang my locket around your neck,
wear my ring on your finger.
Love is invincible facing danger and death.
Passion laughs at the terrors of hell.
The fire of love stops at nothing—
it sweeps everything before it.
Flood waters can't drown love,
torrents of rain can't put it out"
- Song of Solomon 8, The Message