She stumbled upon the path as the tears tried to cleanse her heart. Nothing seemed to work. Her legs felt weak and her feet refused to take another step. She sat upon a log that had been pushed over my a storm from many months ago. Her fingers traced the broken rings on the bottom and she felt as if this once majestic tree held a kindred spirit. She also felt broken and had a ring of her own that was also missing pieces. She cradled her face in her hands and stopped running from the pain.

Chiquitita

She looked up as a familiar sound embraced her but she could not find where it came from. Movement above her caught her eye as a grey and black feather danced its way down to land in her lap. She gently touched a black line. With one gentle touch the lines changed and seemed to form letters. She gingerly lifted up the feather and shook the it. They began to fall and form into a heart broken reminder of a pattern returned.

tell

me

what’s

wrong

She caught the words in her hands, closed her eyes, and blew them like the seeds of a dandelion. Sunlight danced through the trees jumping from leaf to leaf as the words twirled around the rays as if dancing to a rhythm her heart had once tried to forget. She reached out to grab the letters and clasped them between her hands. She pressed them to her heart and she heard them singing in her ear

You’re enchained by your own sorrow 

She dropped the words to the ground and buried them like so many things as of late. As she placed leaves upon the small mound, a new sound caught her attention. This time the sounds rearranged once more and deepened. Her eyes caught movement in the tree line and there he stood looking back at her. The young stag lifted his nose as a signal to her that he came for her. She looked deep into his dark brown eyes and immediately knew he had come to comfort her. As tears came to her eyes, he knelt down. She counted the small points upon his head and it matched the number of years he was no longer in her life. 

He shook his head and made a soft breathy noise that took on sounds of its own…

I’m the one you must rely on
                                               You were always sure of yourself
Now I see you’ve broken a feather
                                                                                             I hope we can patch it up together

She slowly shook her heard and cast her eyes to the mound of dirt that once laid at her feet. She closed her eyes tight trying to stop the salty pain that kept wanting to escape. She wanted to keep it in but he was there to take some of the pain. She finally relaxed and let it all flow out. Before too long she looked down and noticed her tears had created a flood that encircled her. The words were back swirling about her and once again taking on new meaning.

you and I know

how the heartaches                                                                                 come and they go

and the scars they’re leaving 

She looked up and cried more until it totally consumed her body and she was under the stream of tears. Fear grasped her lungs with its fingers and stopped her from wanting to breathe. No matter how many times she could see light, darkness always took over again. As she was about to close her eyes for the last time on this chapter in her life, a rainbow reached down and hugged her. Upon each of its colors came new words and another melody.

you’ll be dancing once again and the pain will end

you will have no time for grieving

She opened her mouth and screamed until fear let go her. She collapsed to the ground. She curled up and caught her breath as she arranged all of the images in her mind. A shadow was above her and she looked up at the stag once more. This time he nuzzled her and she knew she had to stand. As she got to her feet she turned wanting to embrace him once last time. As she spun around he was already gone. Another goodbye she wasn’t prepared for but had to accept. She began to walk back. One foot in front of the other. She had been here before.

As she came to the clearing she heard a whippoorwill in the distance. She looked up and there he was singing to her a special song only she could hear…

But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you
Let me hear you sing once more like you did before
Sing a new song, Chiquitita
Try…