A Kiss

It had been many moons since they last saw each other.  So long in fact that many images had faded.  The last touch a distant memory.  A memory that was held fast.  How her hand felt soft, how his was rough with work.  Her eyes were glossy with the idea of tears, but how she fought them.  How if she had cried he would have wiped her eyes.  He held her face and wanted to soak up every piece of her.  He wanted to breath her in and keep her essence with him on his long trip.  The idea that their paths would never cross again was crushing.  She was paralyzed in the moment.  That this could be the last.  He kissed her forehead and cheeks and chin and finally her mouth.  Not in a lustful way, in an almost melancholy way.  This broke her heart more.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard.  Like it wasnt the last, but needed to be savored.  He pulled her arms from him and kissed her hands multiple times, looked her in the eye and asked for a smile.  She did her best to give him her best smile, but it was crooked with the fight of tears.  This made leaving her much harder for him.  He kissed her mouth again and left through the door and into the darkness.  She lost the fight with the tears.  They flowed out of her in rivers, but she did not sob.  She stood there quietly in the almost dark and let them fall.  She would allow herself to be lost in these feelings for only a few moments and then there was work to do.  He had to lean on the door once he was on the other side of it.  Take a moment to gather himself.  He clenched his fists and leaned his forehead on the door.  They had to win.