The Wedding That Never Was…

Children laughing, running on the grass
Decked in rose petals of moonlit white
The sweetened air blew all around
Buzzing with the softest, purest light

The edges of this picture begins to fade
Sepia tones seep through and spread
Black tuxes fade to dull earth-brown
Stark bride alone, pale as the dead

The movements grow slow, surreal
Images and sound mix and blur
The altar grows hard and overbearing
The edges of reality begin to stir

The joy of the marriage is soft and dull
Distant echoes in time’s empty halls
Dove wings beat on the thickened air
Blurring, like paint, with the organ’s call

Her smile, forever, plastered on
She holds her veiled head so high
He stands there waiting eagerly
His calm demeanor, a blatant lie

He waits for her to take the step
Descend the aisle towards him
He waits for her to make the move
Their lives about to truly begin

Yet no move, no step, nothing at all
She stands, he stands, all rise for the bride
But no music escapes into the rich air
The oversaturated people can’t hide

The golden, rich light oversaturated
Begins to seep through the sepia seems
The world grows fuzzier, fading in light
All of it like long, distant dreams

The people are now nothing more
Than shades of sepia in seas of gold
The bride still stark, still deathly beautiful
Stand pale and shuddering and ever cold

The music is stopped on a single note
The child’s laugh on a single song
The groom’s smile on a single thought
That echo together in harmony, long

The pitch increases, the volume rises
The world fades now into the single light
Within it alone stands the still veiled bride
A grey blur in the sea of the bright

This is the place that could have been
A word, an act, a decision was all
That called the richly, golden light
To bring the future’s sudden downfall

This is her future that will not be
This is the song that will not play
This is the groom, never hers to see
This would have been their wedding day