Madrigal By Moonlight

I played with dance bands all my life. Very low paying dance bands. Bands in the middle of nowhere.

There’s a special feeling you get from playing a gig. You walk outside. Only the darkened sky and the blackened walkway know you’re there. As if you’ve stepped out of the bonds of reality and are living in a shadowy world known only to you, while the ghosts of music echo somewhere from land’s end.

The blues kept creeping up on me and I cried much of the night.

Sometimes, I’d stroll by an old bridge at city’s edge, a remnant from a bygone era that had outlived its time.

 My thoughts turned to her. The things I said, why she left me.

Tonight, as I reached the bridge, I heard a still small voice. I couldn’t tell who or what it was. It mingled with the thoughts in my head.

“Come,” it seemed to say. “Come and join me.”

Trembling, I crept to the center of the bridge and looked down.

One leap, Eternity. Then my soul would be troubled no longer.

Then, I realized it was her. Streaming from her heart.

I would return to her. Beg her forgiveness.