Jamrach's Menagerie - Carol Birch [134]
skrimshaw with the likeness of a parrot carved on it, turn it over and over between my fingers. Walrus. Dan too had his solitudes, these unaccompanied places. What I’ve seen and done and weathered is eternal, as much a part of me as my blood and bones. I saw skies of angels, heard laughter from the deep. The nightingale sobs. I rub the place on my arm where Tim used to hold on to me on the boat. Still aches. He comes to me sometimes. How could he not? He isn’t angry. He’s my friend. We are still in this together.
I open my eyes and see upon the violet-blue sky a moonbow, peerless, singing in the east. Very far away still on my journey, very far away and more beautiful than you could ever imagine.