Smile

She says he can turn a phrase,

twist a sentence, and incarcerate by conjugation. Always begging him to see in himself what was so obvious from the other side of the plexiglass to which the impulsive self-preservation took place. She pleads with him to step down from the tattered wire that barely holds this cemented platform above the icy body resting below it. He fights with the desire to be sane, the intimate wonderfall of skin soaked in salty lust as is his best connection with a soul that will never truly understand his process. His wish to be frozen in solitary outweighs the pros to forced summoning of a social butterfly, that never truly leaves the ashes of a mans bruises. A phoenix he is not. But rise from the shoes he bought on sale he will. Clambering and hauling his large frame to the edge handrail. For a pause, he is fearful. "What will it feel like?" ... "Will I be sad right before?" are considered. Then another moment passes without movement before the head to which goes without sympathy spins round to take a final gaze into the angels eyes. The human form of a soul born not unto this world. He wants her to be the last thing he ever sees. "Why won't she smile?" he ponders. So he changes direction, and parks his backside on the chilled crafted rail. Hitches his feet up on the parallel pipe directly beneath. Staring at her while his elbows land on his knees, and his chin rests on the palms that used to know how to hold a person tight. "I wish you'd be happy" the man mutters. Only receiving a scoff, and an eye-roll in return. "Want to hear a joke?" ... he pushes before pausing. "A priest, a Grizzly Bear, and a convicted pedophile walk into a bar." He threw his hands up as if his last thought was to mimic a hanging on a cross, and leaned back... The long fall was only broken by the bone melting impact on the surface below, but in such an abbreviated juncture, no pain was felt. The melancholy fraught behind those eyes before the finale was spawned after hearing the blood curdling shriek emanating from above. He feared it would be audible to her. He feared she would never recover. He feared she would recall him in this state..... He just wanted her to smile.

photo courtesy Francisca Grim