Night Nurse

DESOLATION
It is so black in here
The walls, the floor, the ceiling
It’s dank and lonely
Yet I’m not alone as Chaos sits opposite me.
We’ve been together before
She mocks me as if to say “I knew I would return”.
Shadows fill the room
A little light must come from somewhere
As the shadows flicker across her face I see eyes with no life in them.
But I was wrong as she does not mock me
She hugs her knees and weeps for the life she should have had
Those lifeless eyes mirror mine
Whatever was her sin?

I can see into her
There was no sin
Only a foolish heart.
She is so empty
Her soulless eyes beg me to help
But I have no strength as my own pain mirrors hers.
I see her story
She has been let down in the past
Not once but many times
I too begin to weep
I feel the burden of life also.
If light is somewhere in the room perhaps with it is a glimmer of hope?
Through my desolation I see only Chaos
Pathetic Chaos
No longer the mistress of her destiny
Just someone who wants the pain to dissolve.

“I loved him, unconditionally”, she whispers
I nodded.
“Was it reciprocated?” I asked
I already knew the love had been reciprocated
But I also knew he had not freed himself to love unconditionally.
“I asked too much of him...” she sobbed
“I did not ask for the world
“I did not ask for riches
“I did not ask for promises or commitment
“Or more than any physical time that he could give
“I asked for gestures of affirmations, for consideration, for effort for us as a couple
“Perhaps I asked inappropriately
“But
“But it was too much
“It was too much!”

I reached out my hand to comfort her
She also stretched out her hand
The mirrored glass was cold to touch in that lonely dark room.