Poem: "Heartshade"
This poem came out of the October 4, 2011 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from laffingkat and rowyn dealing with phantom personality traits and ghosts of the living. It was sponsored by laffingkat.
Heartshade
The man who died
gave away his heart
to a young woman.
Presently the young woman
grew strong enough to leave her bed,
whereupon she discovered
a sudden love for the woods.
She took to walking in the mornings
and it seemed to make her heart happy
so she kept doing it even though
she had never felt inclined before.
Across town,
a middle-aged widow
found her house
inexplicably haunted
by the feather-light footsteps of a girl,
and the sound of laughter,
and the scent of autumn leaves
that reminded her so much of her husband
that it made her cry.
For time was a fluid thing,
and the middle-aged widow
and the young woman
and the tawny forest of fall
were all twined together
by the steady, echoing beat
of one man's heart.