Don't Fade Away

The crackling of the fire sang it’s comforting song, filling the small room with it’s promising warmth, shielding the occupants from the biting cold whose clawed fingers ever tried to invade this peaceful abode. The bed, draped in furs and silks so foreign to him, such a long way from the simple mat he had grown to love. This was new, this was change, this was her request…him to hold her at night, warm her while she slept. Leaning on his side his green eyes swept down to look at her, so peaceful, protected at ease, her beautiful eyes closed in sleep, and a small smile graced her gentle lips.

As he watched he often wondered what she dreamed of, to what place did she go when her small delicate fingers wrapped about him and her head lay upon that pillow, letting that last sigh of the waking world slip from her lips. The flickering light dimmed softly across her skin, and he looked to the fireplace to see the fire dwindling down, it’s light slowly drifting away. “Don’t fade away” he thought as he rose to put another log on the flames, but delicate fingers reached for him, urgent in their need, gentle in their request, his eyes turned down to the woman who lay next to him. Her face wreathed in the crown of sleep, a crown that sat upon a troubled brow for even in sleep she felt him slipping from her. Moving back down he slid back in against her, watching the troublesome rise of her brow settle, settling back into sleep her breathing resumed its soft rhythmic lull.

Bringing a battle worn callused hand up he brushed it gently along her cheek, tracing his fingers down over her beauty…a beauty unmarred by time, a beauty ignorant of the passage of time..A time that he saw slowly slipping by. Yet awake he lay, next to her enjoying this time as the minutes ticked by, for he knew all too well the sands of time trickled out one by one. He longed to wake her, wanted to tell her all the things that he felt for her, thank her for bringing him back from the brink…but he didn’t, he let her rest in that peaceful place where she went when her head lay upon that pillow, when she let out that last sigh of the waking world.

Still the room darkened, and his eyes drifted to the embers that swirled and cooled in the fireplace “Don’t fade away” he whispered to the flames, his urgent plea, just a moment more, a moment to see her face as she slept next to him. Green eyes watched her, his fingers sliding through her soft hair as his mind drifted ahead, one day this moment would pass like the sands of time as they fell. Would her beauty unmarred by time, crease in pain, or would she remember fondly these moments where he silently held her as she went to that place when her head lay upon the pillow, when she let out that last sigh of the waking world.

A brief moment in time, but a flash in the long long life she faced, his would all too soon come to end and in the blink of an eye this moment would end. Laying his head next to hers on the pillow his eyes slowly closed as he left, left for that place she went to when her head lay upon the pillow, in time…when there moment had passed would she find him there, would she call out to him…and as the embers lay still and the room drifted into darkness he let out that last sigh of the waking world…and she whispered “Don’t fade away”.