Lazarus

And as the night fell. In the quiet of the dark.

We sat talking, she and I.

And the street light shined. And the dog continued to bark.

And we talked and talked as the spotlight in dark. Continued to shine.

She was a very pretty girl, but I don’t know the color of her hair.

With the eyes of shiny metal.

And with every minute to spare.

And I began to see her face, and began to settle.

Continuing to sit there, she and I.

And the people on the sidewalk looked at us. Stopped and stared.

And she looked at me, ready to fade out of my mind. Ready to die.

As I came back to reality, and realized I was talking to a chair.

Funny thing, about how lonely a man can be.

And I couldn’t feel anything, in bone cold weather.

Wishing for her to be there, nothing I’d rather see.

As loneliness adds thought to life. And makes midnight smell better.

And I watch them. The people.

Drinking their wine.

Drinking their vodka, and moonshine.

Smoking their cigars.

And watching the cars.

And a mother leaves her car, with child.

With her scarf wrapped, child in hand, walking speedy

With child, she holds tightly and she smiled.

Saying “come on sweetie”.

After a while I see her exit the store.

She lights a brand new cigarette, in unison, like a bike pedal.

The child had a balloon in her hand, and freed from her mother’s grasp. Nevermore.

And as a car speeds down the road, the child runs directly into the street. And with a crash.

The child was struck by metal.

I stood straight up, to see if the child was alive.

And her mother screaming, reaching for her phone. As everyone spies.

And I walk, stumbling away. Ready to cry.

As the balloon the child was holding, flew into the sky.

I walk home in the deep of the sea.

As the sirens from ambulances scream with fright.

What did I witness, a child going into the light?

I couldn’t look at the people walking past me.

And I fall into my bed.

And fade into unconsciousness.

And I slipped off my shoes, and the orchestra the crickets lead.

What did I witness, a terrible coincidence?

And I remembered the child’s balloon

I remembered her sweet face.

The color of it was blue.

And her dress with cotton lace.

And I thought of her and I talking in the chair.

And the people smoking.

And the color of her hair.

And the mother unable to speak and crying, and choking.

And how we hold these terrible coincidences all inside.

And continue buying, and laughing, and time continues.

But the thing that disturbed me the most was not the child, or the mother yelling a cry.

It was the blue balloon I saw flying away. In the deep of the sky.

Like watching her soul escape from her mother’s grasp.

Like her mother asking the same question over and over; “why”.

Or how people just kept walking by.

But I don’t care, that was the past.

A week had passed, since I saw the child fly away.

And flee from her mother’s grasp.

But suddenly, I stopped. Frightened still, and couldn’t believe my eyes or what to say.

I saw a popped blue balloon, in my front yard. In my grass.

And in that moment. I fell on my knees.

And the morning sun came.

And the sway of the trees.

And I prayed for the first time. And I felt him come to me, like standing in the rain.

And I felt like I was going to cry.

And I felt him touch me. Like a father’s hug

And I came back to life, like Jesus in the sky.

And the blue balloon just lay there, in the grass. Popped and snug.

And I wait for her to come to me.

With the color of her hair.

And everything was ok you see.

As she sat next to me talking in the chair.

I love you, and I don’t feel alone. Or scared.

And the child changed me. And freed from MY grasp.

And I no longer felt, like the savior loved me last.

And everything was ok. As she disappeared.

And I sat alone in the chair. 

-Jacob Duran