The River Of Gold

The river of gold gathers the souls as it makes its way down the corridors of the living...

Runaway.
New York City.
Chicago.
Always a new town.
New Orleans was rough.

"I don't like cities, she said to herself, "but it is the only life I know."

She was a troubled girl, lived on the streets, from a difficult upbringing, foster homes, no parents to speak of, pain was the essence of her being.

"I only dream in black and white,
the darkness is my only light"

She experienced far too much too young.

"You are the butterfly woman," she tells herself convincingly. "When the moon is full, I sparkle in the moonlight."

She always wanted to be a model.

"The kiss of the rainbows," that was the world she wanted to be in. "The kiss of the rainbows."

She liked taking apart pens and putting them back together and had a bird like energy: sweet, gangly and nervous.

She cut herself once.
Twelve times.
"Why did they sew me back together?" she said, while touching her scars.

It became harder and harder for her to keep on keeping on.

She took two pills.
And two more.
And some more.
And tossed the empty bottle in the dumpster.
And laid down.
"But they pumped me out and I was so sick."

She's older than her years now.

 "I give you glimpses, but the real bite of my flesh, you can't have it."

She was wise enough, even at a young age to know it is a crazy life. "This is no life for me "

And her kitten had died. Killed by a car. She found it by the side of the road with its neck broken. A spot of blood on its mouth. There was no more to love. She cried all night.

And the river flowed from a tiny trickle to a great crescent.

She found her river of gold. She fell in and the butterflies hanging upside down under the rainbow, flew down by the thousands, and pulled her out.

"Nice butterflies! They gave me a magic umbrella," she said.

Now she could walk on the raindrops.

Down the drops fell and up she climbed above the river into the sky.

And jumped off the last raindrop into heaven.

And we ask not what is or what will be, for we'll meet hanging upside down under the rainbow... and the river of gold flowed before us.


Image Credit: https://www.etsy.com/listing/265329876/landscape-sunset-paper-print-river-art