The Lonely Traveller

We were travellers across worlds

dazzling stars and lands far beyond peripheral sight,

You

the man who bore the fire of the sun 

in his crystalised eyes,

the passion for eternal knowledge 

bristling from your vivacious heart.

You took me by the hand

and we danced through the cosmos,

jumping from burning comets to shattered moons,

thrusting us both

into the shimmering tower of light

that befitted you a crown,

My King. 

From world to world we flew,

Botantist Gardens

rich with green glaciers that swam like tears,

the abode of Everyman

encompassing us in comfortable darkness,

the singing towers of Tortworth

that calmed us when we lost our way,

Withybrook’s winding rivers encased us

with a profound strength

that determined our next steps,

these steps took us to the four corners of the universe

to unearth every secret;

we were happy.

The planets guided us,

moulded the foundations of our very being

until it was time to rest

our weary heads

amongst a blanket of stars,

laid out by Asteria herself

for she took pity on the fatigued mortals,

the lonely travellers.

Time passed

as she often does fleetingly,

but something was different.

As the days fractured into months

you grew a shell

that you refused to withdraw from,

Helios’ fire had been extinguished 

from your eyes

and you could not stand the 

sheer touch of my hand in yours,

let alone a fraction of a forgotten kiss.

As if I were trivial matter,

an afterthought,

something had slipped from my grip, gone indefinitely,

and the swirling shadows of doubt

embraced me with open arms. 

Still, I pursued my dream

to see the stars,

to take a voyage to Dinah’s gazing orb

and watch our sleepy former world pass by from your ship.

Our Lana would lull us a lullaby

‘to be young and in love’. 

But you still took no notice,

for the travelling man longed to be 

alone.

Euphorically you would gallop

from world to world

in an untarnished vision in which

I no longer had a part to play.

It was time to be taken home,

so you took the scenic route

as it took longer;

you were delaying our inescapable fate.

We soared through the radiant Milky Way

and drowned in an abyss of colour

that brought tears to my eyes.

I couldn’t bear to cross the threshold

of the house that lost its light,

because I knew I would never return,

never to return to a life among the stars.

I turned back to you

my wandering traveller

and whispered 

“I was going to be with you, forever.”

No words fell from your lips,

simply a nod

and one lone iridescent tear  

that watered the first flower in months,

and then you were

gone

scattered like dust

across the whole of time and space

never to be seen again.

My lonely traveller.