On the Dark Street Lit by the Lamp Post
Written 12-16-08 through 12-17-08
Alone. By yourself in a place where there is no one else around… that is a lonely place. But to be in a crowded place, surrounded by people, without the only one you want to be with… that is even more lonely. In the middle of a lonely crowd by herself, this is where she stood. People were moving all around her going different places, for they had much to do. There on a dark street lit by lamp posts, she walked alone. Everyone else moving on this street had a place to go. There was laughing and senseless chatter among the people who thronged through the crowd. It was Christmas Eve. She should be going somewhere too. She should have people to talk mindlessly to. But that sort of careless life no longer held an interest for her. She just wanted to be with him. Where was he? There she stood alone in the crowd, on the dark street, lit by the lamp posts.
She looked up at the sky and saw what many others around her were too busy to see: a multitude of silver stars populating the dark night sky. The stars looked so far away. People always say to reach for the stars when you want to attain your dreams. As for her, he was the stars… and her only dream. But the stars seemed so far away. "He is under these same stars," she thought to herself. But where is he? Her heart yearned just to catch a glimpse of the one she loved. The only one she wanted to be with. Not just now on Christmas Eve, but always. There she stood, alone, in the crowd on the dark street, lit by the lamp posts, under the night sky populated by a multitude of stars
Everyone was moving so fast. What was their hurry? They were conscious of the time and time was moving fast. Life is an unending chase in which time is trying to catch up with you. Everything moved so fast in this city. It was like time went by twice as fast here. As she got older, time went faster. She didn't like that. There was no rush. The longer time lasted, the longer her life would feel with him.
She remembered the times before she met him. She was consumed with getting caught up in everyone else's life. Finding out what everyone was talking about, staying in the loop. Life was a show and its goal was to impress. Love was a game in which she thought she knew all the rules. But after she met him, all that changed. She didn't care anymore about the gossip that people had to tell her. The show she used to put on, she saw it for the superficial candidate that it was. No more. The show was over and she was taking her curtain call. Love was no longer a game. Game over. No more card tricks. No more riddles. She loved him and that's all she knew.
Someone bumped her as they rushed to catch a taxi. What was their hurry? Time moved by so fast in this city. There she stood, alone, in the crowd on the dark street lit by the lamp posts, under the night sky, populated a multitude of stars in the fast moving city.
It's Christmas Eve. Shouldn't I be with family? Wrapping our last presents to put under the tree? Making hot cocoa, sitting next to the warm fire, telling outlandish stories? The whole spirit of Christmas wasn't the same. Before she met him, she was all caught up in it. Now it wasn't the same unless he was there. She needed him with her; to be next to her, to enjoy it with her.
As she walked along the street, suddenly he was there. Leaning against a lamp post watching her walk to toward him. Her heart jumped as it always did when she saw him. Suddenly she knew where she was going.
"Where have you been?" she asked. "I've been looking for you."
"I've always been here," he said. His voice was the sweetest thing she had ever heard. The only thing she wanted to hear. He held out his hand for her. She took it and he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into him.
"Don't ever leave," she said.
He smiled. "I had no plans to."
As she stood there with him, everything changed. The crowd didn't seem so lonely. The street didn't seem so dark. The lamp posts shined brighter. The stars weren't so far away. Time in the city slowed down. And there they stood; with each other, in the crowd on the dark street lit by the lamp post, under the night sky populated by a multitude of stars, in a fast moving city, in each other's arms. Together.
The End