“Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze” by Nick Godec

—after William Wordsworth

Mary entered the tomb and lay beside

her son. It was cold and the

stone slab unforgiving. Her eyes a lake

without end, the earth moaning beneath

her, ground fossils of ancient lives the

world forgot and turned to soil. Trees

stood high around the tomb, moths fluttering

and resting on the green leaves. Cocoons and

habits transformed. Once there had been dancing

and knowing in a small plot of forest in

a ripe season. But now Mary sobbed. She loved the

Man, who grew and left softly, like a breeze.

Nick Godec’s work has been published in Grey Sparrow, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Rue Scribe, and Steam Ticket. He studied history at Columbia University, received his MBA from Columbia Business School and now works in the financial industry. Nick lives in New York City with his wife, Julia, and their miniature pinscher, Emma.