a love story

she suffers a fate of suffocation in the Cave.
a badly-educated doctor believing in the healing powers of damp and cold
for consumption. a certain death.

one from the outside found her and cannot stay away
so much she loves the girl trapped inside the Cave unable to see the night sky.
she makes for her a dress of cobwebs and moonbeams. truly. it reflects on the ceiling a galaxy. they sigh in pleasure.

but the outside girl can hear the death rattle in the trapped girl’s throat and knows
that the only escape is now.
by the light of the moon
they steal away, she the strong one, carrying the other half way.
when they hear the dogs they despair.

down a hillside they stumble to a small river running into the cave
and a boat and a boat man with a lantern.

wither thou goest? he asks in strange English. they hesitate but only a second. to be free, says the trapped girl. to be together, says the outside girl.

then aboard, for I hear the search, says the boatman.

and the stronger of the two asks what is this river. i do not know it.

why Styx my young friend, Styx as they float slowly into the caves, holding hands and seeing that sky for the last time.

free. together. they whisper and give their souls willingly trailing fingers in the cold water