Letting go

Whispered prayers float away; bright balloons, released unwillingly from the sticky hands of young children.

I try to hold your hands, gripping tightly, desperately, because my life is yours. But you are mist; I cannot keep you, and all I have left is the coldness and the fading echo of words I can never hear.

I thought that my love for you would be enough to hold you close, but my arms became the iron bars of your cage. You fought to leave, your journey was no longer part of mine. And when I saw how bruised you became, trying to force those bars apart, I released you. You carry pieces of my soul with you.

Will you look back one day, and remember a time when we smiled and laughed, and ripped through each day as if we had forever? Maybe you will. And maybe one day, I can leave this place, your empty cage, and remember love without sadness.