Hold On Magnolia

“Hold on Magnolia” he said, a distant whinny of a horse startled Magnolia as the autumn breeze brushed off against the walls of their wooden cabin. She was always scared, dubious, skeptical… Magnolia had already told him all this, her past had made her a cynic, an atheist when it was about feeling blithe and bliss… but he cared slight and seldom about any worldly thing… he kept on saying, “Hold on Magnolia”… that’s why she loved him…

“Hold on Magnolia” he said again, such a relentless stubborn lover Magnolia had found. She cursed herself on being so lucky and unlucky at the same time. He told her the almirah is infected with mites, the lawn spigot is leaking, the dogs shedding fleas and Liandra, their comely little angel, needs a new guitar and a set of dancing shoes.

“Hold on Magnolia” he said and clasped her sweaty hands inside his. “You said you don’t like my tiny sweaty hands” Magnolia whispered, “why did you have to be so random, stupid boy?” Outside the cold breeze kept simmering with the tranquility of a sage’s harp. The rustling of purple millets, the dancing of the maidengrass and the scent of purple hyacinth surrounded their abode. An abode which was once a fantasy, a fable of two lovers but now a thriving reality.

Magnolia kept turning away from time to time to hide that mournful frown, to wipe that teardrop, to discretely let out a sigh of grief without him knowing. She knew he felt scared whenever she cries, Magnolia tried… but he knew, like always he knew… she turned back to see him smiling, like always… she said, “Listen na” and he said, “Say na”… like always… and there was nothing more she could say.

“Hold on Magnolia” he said and let his gaze fall on her, Magnolia blushed and smiled in her own pristine pure manner. She remembered all those moments when he would just stare at her when she talked… she talked a lot, she knew, but he would never complain, interrupt or even appear to look bothered… he would just stare at her as if diving into some limpid pools of love inside her eyes. All the love in the world was in his eyes, she could feel those stares scouring her of all her sins, miseries and maladies…

Their wooden cabin creaked and yelped in that autumn breeze. Outside the hills gleamed in the twilight, the day’s last sun rays begged for attention as they slowly receded getting more vague overtime, leaving behind two lovers in a dreary gloomy room. “Hold on Magnolia” he said once more, his voice getting fainter and fainter like the sun rays, “I do not even recall how many times I have said this… you need to tell me that you will hold…” She had to intrude and place her small dainty fingers on his lips. “You… shut up” a smile painted forth her comely face as she said that.

They laughed, a jest they shared, the sun subsided into the horizon at that jovial moment, never had it descended down the skyline with such displeasure and demur, as if saying “let me look at them a little longer, let me shine on them a little longer.”

Distant neighing of the horses persisted only now accompanied by the chirring of crickets and the resplendence of the Ivorian overseer in the sky. As the room slowly began to radiate in the silver moonshine, an irenic serenity manifested itself inside the wooden room. In such crystal luminance and pristine halcyon, Magnolia shone resplendent.

It appeared as if the sands of time had overturned and the woman who stood before him was… Magnolia for sure… but older. Argent silvery curls of hair swirled athwart her forehead, her elegant hands had creases which had deepened over the decades, her cheeks showed modest signs of wrinkles but ever the goddess she was… and a goddess never loses her gleam…

Magnolia looked more graceful than an opalescent white peacock perched on some ethereal cliff in Zion or Arcadia. She always used to undermine her beauty and judge herself cruelly and speciously, never once did he believed her, always he used to say, “I will always defend you Magnolia, even when it is against you”

The realizations was brusque and overt. The purpose of the dream was completed, its manifestation into reality was made possible and it had felt surreal. The song he had written for Magnolia had been sung, the fable he had chalked for Magnolia had turned to a veracity, and the life he had purported to Magnolia had been lived… well… as far as he was concerned.

He still felt and saw Magnolia as a youthful dainty girl but he knew those were but mirages conjured by his aching sickness… and it was time… he knew it… the sun and the moon knew it… and most importantly Magnolia knew it…

Another swift yet scouring breeze kissed his dying cheeks. The kiss of angels perchance, the signal from the maker. That ominous moment was nigh.

“I think it is almost time” he said. 

“Shut up…” Magnolia said, she paused for a jiff and spoke again, “no no… keep talking”

“Hold on Magnolia” he said… and then he never spoke again…

Magnolia brushed her bantam yet benign fingers across his face. Her eyes black as the obsidian, glistening like the moon in the night-sky. Her lips quivering like two siblings under a frigid hailstorm. She promised him she would be stubbornly strong and the least she could do was to respect his last wish.

Magnolia came close to him, kissed him on those ashen lips and said…

“I’ll hold on”