their words echo through our lives permeating memory insights and imagination casting shadows recalling vows whispered in the great chambers of célestine cathedrals as rites of passage a litany of verses that comprise the salute, reception and welcoming of an old friend the large gentle presence of those of the humblest host awesome in its kindness stirs the animal organs within us the melodies of their voices softening our wounds caressing the injuries of our earthly experience — he tried hard to shut her chatter out of his mind, that he might hold onto the quickly fading remembrance of their sweet whisperings she expounded on the evening’s dream of a shrimp’s exodus from its shell of thalassic creatures molting of growth and discomfort at once he realised their voices were hers 24 - IV - 2017