Standing on the mountain, rich green grass cool to my feet, I watch a perfect sunset over the bay, her rosy hues shimmering off the rolling waves, her glorious brilliance lighting the sky. I know she will set, and though I know another sun will come and set again, I also know I will never witness another just like her. But I let her go, thankful that I was there,and marveling in the memory.
But what if the sun paused in her descent? What if the clouds halted in the sky, capturing the moment, leaving the perfect beauty of her light to linger. What if, as she remained there transfixed in the western sky, she whispered that she would not diminish, and tears fell as fiery-red rays into the ocean, and I wept with the sun, the heat of her warming me, and drying the tears.
What if I then I conceived to bridge the great distance between us, to ford even the ocean to hold her in my arms even if it burned me to embrace her so. Then what if, with hammer in hand, and a great forest felled for the lumber made ready, I then went to work, sweating and laboring, driven by thoughts of her, encouraged by her whispers while I toiled building this great bridge.
Then what if, as I, on my hands and knees, driving nail and peg, I see my shadow begin to move—ever lengthening eastward—and I, in utter disbelief, look up, and watch helpless as she falls below the distant horizon, her light fading, and as the darkness takes my world, I hear her voice. A whisper carried over the waves by the on-shore breeze so deep with the salty scent of the sea and sorrow, a single word …”Goodbye.”
What if?
So goodbye fading sun. I have turned my back on you, and now, facing east, looking up into the infinite night sky, contemplating the twinkling of a billion far away stars and what loves they too have left and lost, I wait … I wait to forget you, and I wait for another sun.
For Love of My Shadow 