[ extended metaphor ]
Ghosts standing on the edge of the earth, ready to take the plunge into the next world; braced to welcome the peaceful silence of the afterlife…
…but bound to the world by shackles - no escape for them.
They wander unseen, unheard, desperately trying to find a niche in their surroundings.
Drifting through the crowds, they tap strangers on the shoulder, hoping to find a place where they might belong…where they might be welcomed…where they might be loved.
But they are brushed off like dust, scattered into the air once again.
In a sigh of the wind, they are pushed along…floating wherever the road leads them.
They find themselves in a clearing, an empty place of solitude, and they rest.
A sense of familiarity dawns upon them, and they’re suddenly aware of their surroundings. It’s a place they once knew well, now a desolate, barren pit of isolation.
Shadows of their past flash before their eyes, and there is a mutual understanding when each spirit sheds tears…
…they long to have their lives back.
They yearn to go back to the way things were before.
They want a place to belong to.
They want the pulse of their hearts to be reinvigorated and set things back into motion.
They want to feel something other than pain.
They want to love and be loved by the ones that have long since forgotten them.
But deep down, they are well aware that things could never be quite the same. In an ever-changing world to which they are invisible, all they can do is sit and watch the transitions as they fly by…sit and watch the noise from just outside the window, voiceless and powerless to take any action.
And the icy tears flow, and cold embraces are shared between the few miserable souls. They lack the warmth of a living, breathing being, but they can still empathize and feel for one another. Together, they guide each other through the pain; the bitter pain of loneliness and abandonment.
Forsaken.
They drag their chains and set onto the road once again. Because all they are all they have.
But even if they can’t leave, can’t let go of the pain and finally obtain peaceful rest…
….they can find Heaven in each other.