A drizzly summer evening,
standing on the brow of an open ridge,
I thought of you, ma jolie,
as the tainted coils of mist swirled
and gathered their grayness around me.
The wind moved sluggishly through the trees,
drifting into the valley below.
In that mist-laden quiet,
loneliness overtook me,
but I am free
from the sorrowful weeping of long nights,
from the racing thoughts
filled with hopeless sighs.
Loneliness,
you are a beaten enemy—
defeated.
I turn away from the ridge,
breathe in the damp, misty air,
and begin the walk down.