The Hanged Man

the most-likely-outcome card

Lives entwined inextricably,
though a distance never closes,
woven winds in a deep valley,
two figures stare in devotion,
and she wants to step closer.
Torrents lash
at the slightest attempt
to cross the gap.

Into the wind,
she screams,"What good,
all this believing,
when I can't get closer?"

She steps on back,
falls deep into lilies,
their white petals
tickling as she lands,
they swallow her,
so no one sees the shakes
and the little rivulets
of tears down her red cheeks.

Her mind ascends
and time stops again.
Silver cloud reflects
her shape in his image.
She sees him again and again,
reaches up, touches mist,
the cloud quickly reshapes,
and he is again lost
in the haze of daydream.

Quick descent into a body
now numb in a cold sweat
and fever is absorbed
until no feelings remain,
no hope, no despair, no memory.
Just standing among white lilies
and waiting for fate to intervene...

She whispers, "Back to the waiting..."