The Ginseng Will Never Grow Here Again

          Once more, he stood in that place he came to every day. Here, he was alone; he could mourn in that way only he could understand. No, it was not always the same place he would come to; it was the moment in time that would thrust itself upon him, seize him in that moment wherever he was, thrust its hands inside his chest and lay bare the pain he carried there.

          It was in moments like these that he could ask himself, "Where is she?" His eyes would close, and in the darkness clenched against the brightness of the sun, he could see himself. There! He stood on the edge of the cliff hanging above the shadowy woods, the timber cut since last spring, and his eyes would be drawn to that one particular spot he knew so well, the place where the ginseng grew. This was his place, the place of his heart.

          As he stood there, he could feel the tears begin to well up out of his heart, begin a slow roll down across his cheeks and fall over the cliff edge to land in the spot where the ginseng grew. It was then that he knew; the ginseng would never grow here again. He would cry out silently from the cliff top and watch the silent echo rustle through the leaves of the black ash and hickory trees and come a full circle back to his heart. He would call her name; the black ash and hickory leaves would whisper back to him, "No reply."

          Sometimes, it might be the rose bush that was so pretty last April from where he heard a voice calling his name. The voice called to him now as he stood on the cliff top. He turned away from where the ginseng grew and ran up into the field above. There he stood gazing into the depths of the wild rose bush where he knew all the catbirds by name. He stood there as if waiting for something, waiting to hear the whisper of a voice calling his name. He stood there stunned, as the realization sank into his heart; it had been the whisper of his own heart he had heard, his voice. Once more, he called her name as her silence closed over his broken heart...