Echoes of the Night

Bill,

I wake some mornings knowing you were with me during the night but knowing in truth it was all part of a dream, a dream we began years ago. That dream now lives in the mist of the time between the night and the dawn. Just when the fog is lifting comes the time for parting again. I'm glad for what we had. There should have been more embracing, but time was racing onward and we were unable to catch more time. In the mist of a dream I can relive over and over the memories that make me smile because there was a part of us that no one but us saw and felt. That is the secret that lives still in my heart. And, I know you will return and through the fog take my hand once more and lead me back onto the dance floor we once shared and we will glide across the floor to the music you taught me to love. My dream ends with the ballroom always clouded around the perimeter revealing only shadows of other dancers moving around in a circle. A circle of light shines on an empty center where we once danced. The music is always there in the concealed limits and the light is waiting for us to enter and begin again to move and sway to the echo of each precious note, Moonlight Serenade. Music - that you so deeply etched on my heart that as long as I breathe, as long as I can dream, as long as my eyes can still see - that is you. Unforgettable.

The very moment you tested my choice with that first passionate kiss you became the purpose of my world. The choice you always left to me, but in your eyes, from your heart, I heard your plea, felt your need and much deeper recognized both your want and your love. My world couldn't exist any longer without you. You needed and wanted me more than what I ever felt before and since. I didn't know about love until I knew about you. Even now that love endures in the quiet of the night as I dream of what was our life. We needed each other in all ways, far beyond what others could understand and comprehend. We stepped to the edge that others saw as dangerous and we faithfully held hands seeing only the marvels that are revealed from the very edge others avoid. We moved beyond the fear because we gave each other wings that wouldn't allow us to fall but to soar with what was our summer wind. We both took a leap of faith and found happiness and wonderment. I am so fortunate you opened your heart and life to me and I took your dreams and made them part of mine. It was everything wonderful.

And, now all I have is a misty dream filled with the shadows of other dancers surrounding an empty spotlight. Moonlight Serenade plays. In our circle it is only a far away echo. Music that is so lonely and distant for a solitary dancer but is so compelling and real to the dancing couples of the shadows. I linger in the mist of each morning while I still enjoy the echoes of what was. I awake missing you but, ever so grateful for the dance.