Water

I saw him by the river.
Dipping his feet in the water.
Creating ripples.

His hair fluttered
In such a way
It looked like waves.

His eyes were the blue
Of one thousand oceans
Mysterious and unknown.

He wore a turquoise robe
Studded with moon light
And a tear shaped pendant, which showed his mood.

“Come here” he said
In a voice like bubbling springs.
And I went to him.

In winter
He taught me how
To row a boat.

And we would row to the willow trees
And the hanging branches
Would create a shrouded chamber within

There we would talk
And when we laughed
We could see our breath in misty clouds.

When the pond froze over
He taught me how to skate
Holding my gloved hands and smiling.

Soon he could spin me
And we would dance on the ice
Making thin scratches on the surface.

In spring
We would collect daisies
And weave them together.

When we had finished
He would crown them on my head.
Stroking my hair and saying I was a princess.

And on a magical day
He produced Willow seeds from his bag.
And we planted them in our favourite place.

Some how, around him
The willow tree grew
As big as me in just one month.

In the summer he told me how
To swim.
And we would dive down for shells.

Pearl pink, baby blue and grass green,
When the sun shone on the shells
His pendant turned blue, for he was content.

Then we would swim
To our willow tree.
And he showed me how to feed the fish.

On other days we would lie
On the riverbank.
Watching the birds swooping up above.

In autumn he taught me
How to make wooden chairs
And bracelets, out of falling wood and leaves.

When he wove the twigs together
His eyes glinted
And his pendant turned green, as he felt creative.

Some days when I had to stay inside
I would see him swimming around dolefully
And his pendent would turn grey, for he was bored.

When the trees had gone bare
And it was cold
He taught me how to skim stones.

For years this went on,
Then we came to see
Our willow tree had been knocked down.

For the first time
I saw his face full of anger
And his pendant turned bright red.

I tried to calm him down
But he ran leaving me
On my own.

For weeks I searched for him
And I finally saw him
Crying.

“We can plant another willow tree.” I whispered
“Its not that,” he said “ Its because…
I have to leave”

I then cried. Cried for all the world to see.
But then he wiped my tears, and kissed me
And his pendant went pink, for love.

The day after, his family left
And I found a package for me
With his pendant inside.

So here I am, years later
By the river, with his pendant in my hand.
I look to see what mood he is in.

It is pink.
He is thinking
Of me.