On a More Serious Note

Her body knelt towards the cobblestone walk, her head bent low under the weight of lonliness. She tried to raise her eyes to the sky, yet as the horizon met her gaze, she was thrown towards the ground once again. Her shoulders arched towards the sunlit canopy of the sky, but her strength alone would not suffice. As her heart sunk into desperate despair, a gentle touch encircled her hand. She glanced ahead, wary of the fingertips on her wrist. A gaze met hers and poured its quietness into her soul. He was kneeling ahead of her, hand on her wrist, heart in his eyes, pulling her towards him strongly, passionately, but with a tenderness that melted the burden on her shoulders. No longer was the cobblestone against her, instead a man. He raised her to her knees, lifted her burden, and pulled her closer to his heart. Yet, as he took her burden, he fell to his knees. Her eyes filled with tears as he struggled with the weight and silently, she dragged the burden again to her shoulders and fell at his side. He pulled her to him and with her, the weight. She lay, head on his chest, burden on her back, and traced the stones around his body. Together, they pushed the burden to the ground between them and, kneeling, gazed at the weight. Slowly, their gaze turned to each other. She, overwhelmed by him, began to swoon until his touch, that gentle hand that so sweetly took her burden, carressed her face and awakened her. She glanced skyward, absorbing all that she hadn't seen before and he noticing her wonder, pulled her to her feet and lifted her as close to her sky as he could. She felt the wind in her hair, the sun on her cheek, his arms round her waist and she breathed deeply the air of freedom. When he set her feet back on the cobblestones, she flew with the breeze round every bush and every tree to explore the land previously unknown to her. He, worried he would lose his precious angel, chased her, sweeping branches and leaves out of his way. His eyes searched violently for his beloved til he found her. Her arms outstretched to the sky, the wind playing in her hair, body heaving from sheer joy at all she saw, she stood on a cliff facing the end of the world. Worried for her safety, he swept her up in his arms and away from the edge. As he set her down, she took his warm hand in her own and pulled him with her as she explored the sky, the earth, the sea, her attention ever fleeting from one place to another, always landing on him, her rock. Again they returned to her cliff. He could feel her heart beat in his own and he lifted her hands again to the sky. They felt the breeze in their hair, the air in their chests, and he felt the wonder she felt coursing through her body. He knew, she knew, they knew, that they had found what they hadn't known they were searching for.