Chasing Ghosts

Matt stood in front of the gravestone with a bouquet of iris in his hands.  The marker was new, less than one month old.  Yet he could close his eyes and already trace every grey vein in the rose colored granite.  He bent slowly down, his knees pillowed by the wet leaves of the late autumn afternoon.  The receptacle already held a bunch of iris that were barely wilted, but Matt pulled them out and replaced them with the fresh ones he just brought.

Clouds, chasing each other across the sky, cast shadows that fell on the silent flowers.  Matt closed his eyes again, not in prayer, but to concentrate on remembering every feature of Vicki’s face.  The sun warmed his back and he smiled sadly as he remembered how much Vick enjoyed being outdoors.

He felt, more than he saw through his closed eyes, the chill as another cloud came between him and the sun.  When the darkness passed he opened his eyes and he could almost believe that he saw her shadow on the grass.  He dared not turn around and have the spell broken.  Instead, he let his eyelids fall again as he held out his hand to the spectre.  A gust of wind blew through the cemetery, kicking up leaves.  A couple brushed his outstretched hand.  He gasped when he felt the caress.  Then in the trees a whisper came, “I’m here.”

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Okay, I know it’s still the height of summer here, but I couldn’t help writing a little ghost story.  And I couldn’t help using all three prompts (in some fashion).  What feelings or images come to mind when you read these prompts?  As always, thanks to Jeremy’s Challenge Wednesday.

This week’s lines of poetry are:

• Men on the wet leaves kneeling – Spring Song by Sherwood Anderson
• Her shadow on the grass – Song by James Joyce
• Falling on silent flowers – A Light Left On by May Sarton

If you use this prompt please link back