Behold the Coffin Maker

The evening air was chilled and fog snaked through the streets as ghostly shrouds. A girl walking down the street passed a man sitting in the dark inside an old warehouse. All the lights were out and his presence frightened her at first. But as she looked at the man through the open door, she saw that he was unaware of her. He sat with his head in his hands. She whispered, "Are you alright?" And as the man looked up, she saw tears in his eyes. He stared blankly at her. It was as though she was not there. The man rubbed his eyes and looked at her again. Was she a figment of my imagination. He dared not speak. He looked behind him. The coffin was completed. He turns back toward the girl. He sees she is speaking to him.

She asks, "Kind Sir, why are there tears in your eyes?" He looked at her and knew she was too young to know all that his soul bore, and simply answered, I loved her more than my own life. She was my friend and my sister."

The girl replied, Have you no lover to comfort you? Have you no one with which to share your grief?" He shook his head and then he said, I have no lover with which to share my grief. I have forgotten how to let love come to me. I merely give what I can and too easily."

The girl shrugged her shoulders, "Seems to me that your tears are evidence of your passion for life. You eyes tell me that you love too much." The man's eyes widened as he took his breath. There can never be too much love."

You misunderstand me, says the girl. I am telling you that you love too much and do not love yourself enough. Do you know who I am? And the man looks deeply into her eyes and sees a flicker of light. He turns his head to find the source making the reflection in her eyes. All is dark. Nothing is shining brightly except her eyes.

Tell me dear girl, "Who are you?" She replies, "I have come to sing for you and share your grief and tell you that you are beautiful to me." But I don't know you, he exclaimed. Shhhh, she whispers leaning to his brow. Then in his ear she softly sings as a mother to her child,

"Our love is among the stars and moon. Our love is the call that we hear. Our love is set free to live and to breathe, to mingle and blend, to charge through the wind to linger where it's needed most. Be near me, don't fear me, with me you'll be free to love and to do as only you can see. Your eyes are anointed with sight full of longing, belong to yourself, then to me."

As she sang to him, the melodies of her sweet voice sent vibrations coursing through his heart, and he sighed and felt relief.