house of shadows part 5

What comes, will go
what is found, will be lost again
but what you are is beyond coming and going
and beyond description...
you are it and cannot help being what you are
—Rumi

I had never really thought much about soul mates or soul ties until I met Blythe—but then, she was a ghost, and I had fallen in love and so, naturally, the topic would come up.

But I never really thought of myself as a lost soul either, and the way Blythe described it, I was wandering lonely as a cloud, and that disturbed me.

In fact, to tell the truth, I was defensive.

“So what happened to you, Theo? Why are you untethered?

I could feel my emotions swinging wildly from extreme to extreme, like a sailing mast in the wind. I couldn't help feeling indignant and I took umbrage at her remark. “I’m not untethered,” I insisted.

“Oh, but you are,” she whispered.

I hated her for saying that, but something within me snapped. My eyes welled up and my throat constricted. I turned away in shame, trying to hide my burning eyes, the lump in my throat, the dryness of my mouth and tongue.

She wasn't forceful, but gentle—as gentle as the breeze stirring the trees outside.

“Take your time, Theo. Allow yourself to finally let it out. Visualize it in your mind. Wait for an image. Feel it totally, completely—let yourself go, and then, tell me what you see.”

I flowed with her words, loosening my clenched fists, closing my eyes, waiting for a picture—and it came to me unbidden through the soft soughing of the sea.

I was in Florida on the Gulf side and Ari and I had been flying a red kite. I tied it to the back of a reclining chair and let the stiff gulf breezes keep it steady in the clouds. I chased her down the beach and we fell laughing into the tide.

We returned in time to see the kite detached and carried out to sea, the long line dangling in the waves, the small diamond sail being swept toward the horizon, until it was just a red speck heading toward Mexico.

And for all I know, I mused, it’s drifting still, in a quiet afternoon of clouds and waves.

“That’s lovely!”

How she knew, I don’t know. I certainly didn’t have to tell her—to say it out loud, but she saw it somehow in her mind’s eye.

It was then knew I was loosing my grip, being caught up in her wild beauty, wanting to be with her on that sunny coast, under the forever sky.

“Are you enchanted?”

“I am.”

“Good,” she beamed, eyes shining, “As I've discovered, it’s not good to be alone.”

My heart burned within me. I finally felt at home.

© 2017, John J Geddes. All rights reserved.

Photo:https://goo.gl/images/Tq5awm