“Is that actually you or am I dreaming again?”
 Ella Fox

He came upon her,
A maiden soft
As a May morning,
Lying gently upon
A faded blanket in
The new spring grass.
Her eyes were closed as
Her fair hair escaped
From its confinement,
The lustrous tresses
A-tumble about her
Calico sheathed body,
With a book open, tented,
Across young breasts,
One hand holding it
In place
And the other arched artlessly
Over her head.
His heart stopped
As he gazed in wonder
Upon the sight.
He knew that face
Though it had been ten years
Since he last beheld it.
He recalled her tears flowing
Around her brave smile
As she waved him
From her life.
She had been a girl
Of fourteen
And he
Just four years older
When he'd answered the call
Of his country
He'd left so idealistically,
Full of righteous, cocky
Confidence,
Feeling immortal as
He set out to meet promised
Glorious challenges.
But now he'd returned,
A man riddled with scars and
Older than he should be.
He'd seen death.
He'd killed,
He'd watched friends die,
And he'd witnessed the slaughter
Of innocents,
And because he'd witnessed
Such abject inhumanity,
His soul felt dead.
Devoid of joy.
Devoid of hope.
Devoid of a reason
To go on.
But now as he sat
Upon the once spirited mount
That had carried him into
Countless battles,
A gray gelding named Galahad
That bore its own cloak
Of scars,
He gazed upon her beauty and
Felt the first hint of life
Stirring within his brokenness.
Gone was the young girl
Of his memory.
Replaced by
A woman now grown;
And his starving spirit feasted
Hungering for what could yet be.
Would she recognize him,
The boy she had once idolized?
Would she look past
Ten long years of scarring
And find a man
Worth saving?
His mount whickered quietly
And stomped a hooved foot
Startling her awake.
For a moment she merely stared,
Confused to find him there,
Before her luminous blue eyes
Widened with panic,
And she tried to scurry away
Whimpering in terror.
“Wait!” he cried. “Rachel!
Do you not know me?”
At his voice she paused,
Surprised he had called her
By name, and
An eternity passed
Before her terror
Was replaced by wonder.
“Eric?” she whispered, “You've come home?”
And he smiled the smile
Of an exhausted warrior as tears
Flowed freely down both of their faces.
Climbing from Galahad
He caught her in mid air
“Yes,” he whispered
As he held her close
And breathed in
Her sweet, fresh scent,
“I am home at last
To rest and
To stay.”

c. 2026