Golden Butterfly

She needed some magic the most now. There she was; a New Yorker in this unfamiliar state she had dustily dismissed years ago as 'Middle America'. The isolation and emptiness of the farmscape heartily mocked her current mental and emotional muddle. Thank goodness it was the last day there- sitting across the table from her one time, all times, future time past and present ex.

The one who once gave her butterflies that now felt like sparrows.

It had been a week of neither here-nor-there, of watching the pale and muted Rusty Red Sun dive down into the cracked ground from her hotel window alone. He in his own.

Yes, she needed that magic now- just a sign.

They made it JUST in time to Atlanta- and by just in time, the bare skin of your carry-on, time enough to become a track star and make it sweating to your gate- with our without wearing the original shoes you modeled on Plane One.

They were separated there, like the parting of book from spine; of yours from mine. The week had ended, no Golden clarity, more Greysome clouds.

"I need to get on this plane," she tried on a lark at the gate. It was his plane. A surprisingly helpful ticket clerk click clacked and printed a boarding pass. And a full plane left only one open seat.

Eyes locked. Brown eyes that had always known each other anciently, full of ancient pain. The flight was long, pretty wordless.

"I almost forgot," reaching into his pocket as they touched down, "I found this on the tram to the gate... Here."

He handed her a Golden Filigreed Butterfly.

She had her sign. The tears ran down her face. He could never truly understand its significance- that her Papoo promised to watch over her in butterfly-form, that she prayed to find a gold charm to remind her to always believe in her dreams, that she lived and died a little on the hope of their love rekindled- no he could only see Opalescent tears.

Their love grew from that day, Gilded, Golden, Free as a Filigreed Wing and Prayer.

And though they did not make it to the end, he gave her butterflies once again.