Let It Be Me
by
Cathy Biribauer
There you are, shimmering in white, facing the
stage, about to throw the bouquet. Your new husband is beside you,
beaming, knowing he is the lucky one. I am among a throng of people who
adore you and wait with outstretched arms.
Your laughter makes me feel like I can fly.
It was so long ago and it was yesterday: you had me
with just a toss of your lovely head. You took hold of my heart and ran
with it like a child with a June bug in her hands.
You shut your eyes tight and laugh that champagne
laugh as the countdown starts: five...four...three....
Once, only once, I dared to tell you I loved you.
I took a stick and wrote my message in the lavender snow outside your
window. My deepest secret sparkled in the silvery early dawn. But the
wind, in its unthinking way, erased it before you woke.
...two...one! You toss the bouquet behind you and
everyone cheers. My heart stutters Let it be me, please, let it be
me. Let me have just one thing as red roses arc through
the air and I reach and reach and reach my life away.
Cathy Biribauer is a
freelance writer who is originally from Toronto, Canada. She
is a recipient of the University of Toronto's Harold Sonny Ladoo
Award for Creative Writing and a graduate of the inaugural Humber
School for Writers in Toronto. She currently lives in Nagasaki,
Japan.
Rose are Red 'Coy' courtesy of Art.com
