The Kiss

Just six months before this story was about to take place
she left the hospital with rashes splashed across her small face,
and lips that seemed to slough off every day or so,
and she teased they were caused by the Redoubt volcano.

But time can change quickly, as you’ve often heard before,
the zig-zags of life make it hard to know what our futures may hold,
and though a miracle surely would be needed to have such a face kissed
that’s exactly what was in store, and it happened like this.

A serendipitous meeting,with laughs all around,
and more activities that were filled with fun and never a frown,
and even though they decided that they could only be friends,
that wasn’t how this semi-sweet morsel of a story would end.

By happenstance there would be another face-to-face meeting,
and they casually related old stories, of hers and of his,
but when she shared one particularly dark memory with him,
he surprised her when he crossed the room to give her a kiss.

Because of all that sloughing, her skin felt so soft to his touch,
he held her face with both of his hands, then he kissed her mouth,
she could hardly believe that this miracle was happening to her,
as it washed away the painful memories of the six months before.

Time switched back like a pendulum just as quickly again,
for in the morning came the email that she opened from him,
saying that an old love was the one that he missed,
a swift end to the single day she had enjoyed with such bliss.

Though her heart was downtrodden, she still knew that a miracle had occurred,
and through her tears, she bowed her head down in deep gratitude,
though he was one man that for all time that she would surely miss,
she had been blessed with the memory of his life-changing kiss.

So no matter how dark the clouds seem as you glance overhead,
please know that the possibility of a miracle can lie in the days just ahead,
for who would have ever thought that one who had been so incredibly sick
would receive one such miracle, his gift of the kiss.