Chapter Three______ THAT BREEZE!

Righteous of feeling unfold
In disillusioned night or mysterious day.
Supplicated growling of man in cold
Beneath the wild teeth of night turns gray.
And day follows the night.
Day is a train for the sensible night.
Mystic night joins dark day.
And my ears are the grave of secretive plight.
Veins harmoniously join the words of yesterday.
And day follows the night.
How can we prick our sun?
On each other's shoulder we've cried.
I say: "That breeze!" He says: "Gone!"
He says: "That flower!" I say: "Dried!"
And day follows the night.
*
Staying in wonderment through a desert of solitude, maturing in her dreams without nightmares, Anna'a prolonged silence had no memory. Nothing of past stirred her vitality; and future seemed vain and vague. Her father's promising words sounded unreal, and she knew the deception behind them. Her brother's consoling assurance did not bring her any comfort, for at such young age, she knew her father even better than her mother.
Anna cried for hours the day Aria was leaving. They spent the entire morning together and when the afternoon came and Aria was called to go to the airport, Anna burst into an uncontrollable sobbing as though she was losing her brother for ever. In fact, her cry was not for him but was for herself to lose the only mentor and defender she had.
"Don't worry my little sis. I make our father to keep his word."
"How? You won't be here. He just said that to calm us for now. I know this is a trap." Anna babbled.
Aria vehemently caressed her shoulder as she was clinging to him and then left. The sudden disappearance of her beloved brother aroused the last but not the least trace of self worth and dignity that was left in her. However, she mistook it with a sudden burst of submission. She felt as though there was not enough energy left in her to fight this battle.
In the bewilderment of her conscience, suddenly something struck her. Men like her father are known best for their words. They go out of their ways to carry on their promises even if it hurt them. She thought to herself: "When I graduate from high school, I remind him of his promise and leave him no choice but to keep his word." That reflection brought her a gloomy hope. In two years she could go to America. While exasperating, another brain work haunted her like a vision: "What if I finish school in one year? I had done two classes in one year before!"
Nonetheless, she was distressed by the apparent hate that filling her up, a repulsion that stemmed from the core of her entity. As she remembered her brother's comforting words to her before leaving, she understood that her father ought to have a plan for her; therefore, she needed a plan too for neutralizing her father's devilish scheme. The more she thought, the more she came to understanding that her plan had to be nothing, absolutely nothing. She just had to continue her normal routine so as not to raise any suspicion. Meanwhile she could take summer classes to achieve her plan for finishing school sooner.
*
On that Sunday when Anna and Joseph talked for fourteen hours, she suddenly felt that she was in love with him; even though she had told him earlier that she just wanted to be friend. Amazingly she was not bored during that fourteen hours conversation. She, who preferred silence over words, had always avoided long talk or chatting on the phone. But that Sunday everything felt different. She found her equal that day; a man, who knew a lot and could speak about any or many subjects. Where could she find this? A man who loved her and was intelligent, too.
They both decided not to wait and marry as soon as possible. To them, in their ages, there was no sense of waiting or dating. So they married. The first day of their joint life felt as though they lived together for years. When a month passed, it seemed that they were married forever. It was a connection without obligation, an understanding without restraint, and an empathy without frivolity. They inspired one another to be better and best. Together, they found all problems solvable. There was nothing to overshadow the ecstasy that they had established in the other's companionship. Soon, they were not only a married couple, but best friends. Anna was not ashamed to hide her life story anymore since she knew Joseph would not judge her. In return, he shared all his secrets with her, even the ones he had hidden from his parents.
At nights, while he was drawing her near his warmth, she finally let go of her shyness and self control. They enjoyed their closeness tremendously. But that was not the only thing they loved about each other. When he worked on his book, she would understand the state of compulsion that was driving him and leaving him no choice but to write. She was also writing again. All the suppressive thoughts that were flowing like a juicy orange, would appear as vehement poems. She loved to write. They were each other's body of life.
In the private of their home, where no one could enter through the iron bars of the back yard or the solid oak door of the front, they breathed inspiring and healthy air of their home that once had been only a shelter. There, at night, when the stars in the dark sky shone like diamonds, they sat in the gazebo which Joseph had designed it in his mind, and watched that beauty. Darkness to them was only a smoke that hanged suffocatingly over the red heat of the gravitating day.
Anna discovered in amazement that she did not need to see Melisa any more. In fact, she realized that she had not learned anything from her that she already did not know. However one most important issue that Melisa had instilled in her, and Anna came to understand and act upon it, was self worth and love; something she did not feel before. How could one be capable of loving if she did not love herself? For the first time in twenty two years, she began loving herself and realizing that she was a decent human being. In short, she was gratified by undecorated seriousness of life.
At nights, when they lay folded together, gazing into the transparent heart of the night, both understood their mortality's. Therefore, having reached the apex of their lives by doing more than what their bodies could take, they tried to let the juices flow. In three years of joint life, they accomplished more than ever. Joseph not only finished the book he was writing when he had met Anna, he wrote two more books; and Anna wrote all suppressed poems that were burning her inside and she had pushed them aside. When there was no depression left in her, her poems changed to the color of rainbow, as her life.
With Joseph's help and encouragement, she was able to publish some of her poems. Then she thought of publishing a book of poetry. He inspired her like nothing she had ever known, and while she was working very hard to achieve this great goal, an unexpected misfortune darkened their ecstasy. Her book of poetry stayed untouched after that.
*

To be continued