And Still They Wait

She waited for him. He waited for her. Twenty-five autumns had passed since she first saw him, sixteen autumns had passed since he first saw her. There was an ocean between them, but that did not stop what was to ultimately be the destiny they both secretly prayed for.  There were lifetimes behind them, and one before them.

They had one perfect autumn day that they shared together. The same orange, brown leaves brushed past their faces as they danced to their own fate on the cold granite beneath them. Alan offered a soft smile as he gently removed a rogue leaf from Prudence’s long, black hair. She didn’t move but her heart beat so fast she was afraid it would burst out of her chest. They watched silently as they breathed in the crisp, cool air, and they could smell the changing of the season.  He knew that she would not be there for long, and she knew it too.  It was the perfect happiness, the perfect sadness. It was beyond poetic how their meeting matched serendipitously with the autumnal aura that surrounded them. 

This was the only day in autumn that they shared, the only day at all that they’d shared, and it was every-thing. They knew now, that from this moment on, they were bound like the seasons, and they would always be together. Changing, yet eternally coming back to themselves. This was not the season of death, it was the season of transformation, change, of something far more beautiful than anything that could be imagined. The day two autumns became one.

They sat in perfect harmony with the universe. Alan kept the leaf he took from Prudence’s hair and placed it in his pocket. Prudence picked up a leaf that had fallen next to Alan’s hand as he rested it on the bench in St. Patrick’s park overlooking the cathedral. That day they made a promise that no matter how far away they were, they would look upon that leaf and remember. They waited to be reunited…and still they wait.