End of the Vigil

Roberto went the way of Big John and Ray Fox.
Eleni Rallis walked with him as far as she could.
She waited with him for the boat to dock.
He was loaded with care, the coins clinging to his eyes.
When the boat was gone around a curve in the stream,
she walked back the way she had come with him.
and at home the birds flew his soul away
while she finished the retsina and the ouzo.
The boat would be empty now and she was happy
watching the wings flutter and glide and disappear.
She would walk down to the river and watch
for the limbs of trees to wash ashore and take root.
Sitting on a bench with her long fingers
laced in her lap, the tears flowed quickly then.

(1 September 2011)

copyright 2011 by Floyce Alexander