Katerina

I stood, head bowed,
drenched by rain and existential angst
That cold, dark Edinburgh night.
What am I? Why is rain?
Time passed, no answers came.

Soft steps, a woman appeared
from the dappled grey mist,
from vague shape into the yellow spotlight.
Long, glistening gown twirling
In some solitary tango.

She stopped, looked at me,
long, raven black hair
framing a pale alabaster face.
Her lips delicate, slightly parted,
The merest whisper of a smile.

Her eyes, the deepest brown,
transfixed my soul;
Spun me round and pulled me in,
An eternity passed, lost
In that infinite Corryvreckan.

“Katerina!”
The faint call struggled
through the dreich night.
She turned, her silhouette a pendant
Hanging from chains of light.

“Katerina!” again.
Through the mist, those vague shapes;
some movement, an arm, a wave.
Her gaze back to me once more,
for one final fatal glance.

The lifeline gone, my final being
carried away into that gentle maelstrom.
She spun around, the gown swirling, oh so slowly
and moved away, those same soft steps
dying away. The rain parting before her path.

In that brief moment I knew, I understood.
I found the meaning that I had craved so long
then gladly gave it all away.
I can live on now, bereft of self,
yet content enough to be a hollow shell.