Il marche seul.

 Il marche seul. Il a toujours marché seul.
 Enfant, sa famille déménageait chaque année.
 Il s'est fait de nouveaux amis 
et les perdaient à chaque mouvement. 
Il apprit qu'il devait marcher seul.

Adolescent, il était maladroit avec les filles.
 Il les aimait mais ne savait pas quoi dire.
 Cela n'avait pas beaucoup d'importance, 
L'année suivante, il s'est éloigné. 
Encore une fois, il marcha seul.

À un moment, il est tombé amoureux.
 Elle l'aimait aussi.
 Il savait que cela ne pouvait pas durer;
 Il se prépara à marcher seul à nouveau.

Les années passèrent, il s'installa dans une seule maison.
 Entretenir des amitiés et apprendre à faire confiance.
 Il pensait que l'amitié durerait éternellement.
 Il avait tort... 
Les amis s'éloigneront. 
Encore une fois, il marcha seul.

Il se maria et des enfants naquirent.
 Il a juré « jusqu'à ce que la mort nous sépare ».
 Un pont emporté, sa femme et ses enfants emportés.
 Il visite leur tombe chaque dimanche. 
Seul.
 Il s'y rend seul.

Il a cessé de chercher l'amour maintenant.
 Il sait que ça ne peut pas durer.
 Il n'y a aucune récompense à essayer.
 Il a l'habitude de marcher seul.

Si vous vous demandez son attitude distante, 
sa distance délibérée,
 son manque d'affection...
 Il a été brisé et abandonné trop souvent. 
Maintenant,
 il préfère marcher 
seul.


©Ellen Pepper 2026

He Walks Alone

 He walks alone.
He has always walked alone.
As a child, his family moved every year.
He made new friends
and lost them with every move.
He learned to walk alone.

As a teen, he was awkward with girls.
He liked them but knew not what to say.
It didn't matter much,
as the next year, he moved away.
Again, he walked alone.

In one place, he fell in love.
She  loved him, too.
He knew it couldn't last;
He prepared himself to walk alone again.

Years went by, he settled in one home.
Nurtured friendships and learned to trust.
Thought friendship would last forever.
He was wrong...friends will drift away.
There he was...walking alone.

He married and children were born.
He vowed "til death do us part".
A bridge washed out, wife and kids were on it.
He visits their grave every Sunday.
Alone. He walks there alone.

He's stopped seeking love now.
He knows it can't last.
There's no reward for trying.
He's accustomed to walking alone.

If you're wondering at his aloof demeanor,
his deliberate distance,
his lack of affection...
He's been shattered and abandoned too often.
Now he prefers to walk alone.

©Ellen Pepper 2026

ECHO OF THE DIVINE

Miriam heard the Echo of the Divine Voice,
in the presence of absolute silence.
There was neither cry, nor answer, nor response...
the sound not from the universe,
 but proceeding directly from God.

The days of prophecy
 were coming to an end.
There'd be one final warning.
Miriam was chosen to receive.

She pulled her cloak closer and
tended the stew pot hanging in the hearth.
Her father was out in the field, 
threshing with his flail.
Winter would come too soon.

A dove would appear
 before the Voice was heard.
Miriam knew to still herself to heed it.
God was speaking, 
she opened her heart to receive.

At the gloomy zenith of a day,
the dove came and
 the Voice spoke of an impending threat.
The village folk must take to the caves.

Warriors were approaching with intent 
 to despoil their homes and worse.
They wanted to sate their blood lust,
and collect  slaves for their king.

The villagers at first scoffed her warning.
She was just a woman - 
God did not speak through women, it was commonly agreed.
The villagers went back to the fields.

In the dark of early morn, days later -
smoke was seen rising from the  village.
Those who had ridiculed Miriam's warning,
were slain as theyslept in their beds.

Miriam, her father, and some others
survived the onslaught in the caves,
only to find their village razed to the ground,
when they returned from hiding.

Miriam never again heard
the Echo of the Divine Voice.
She'd survived the massacre,
but at what cost?
Nothing was left of her home 
or those who'd scorned the alarum.


©Ellen Pepper 2026
https://youtu.be/KsV22Hs4GLc

C’était tellement absurde

 

It was so absurd

the way we met.

The park bench on the avenue,

the pigeons begging you for bread,

Your cranberry beret at an odd angle.

You smiled at me with sweetness,

Your eyes so gentle, so kind.

The next day, we met at a cafe.

You asked so many questions

that my head was spinning.

Little did I know that you were scared to make a mistake in love.

Your fine manners were so engaging.

My love for you grew like yeast in a bread.

Our hands were meant to hold each other.

And, one day, we would wed.

And so, what began on a bench with pigeons all around

became a marriage made in heaven.

With me so happy to have found you.

And you, so happy to be mine.

True love. True love.

********************************

paroles en français

 

C’était tellement absurde

La façon dont nous nous sommes rencontrés.

Le banc du parc sur l’avenue, les pigeons te suppliant du pain,

Ton béret à la canneberge sous un angle bizarre.

Tu m’as souri avec douceur,

Tes yeux si doux. Tellement gentil.

Le lendemain, nous nous sommes retrouvés dans un café.

Tu as posé tellement de questions que j’avais la tête qui tournait.

Je ne savais pas que tu avais peur de faire

une erreur en amour.

Tes manières étaient si attachantes.

Mon amour pour toi a grandi

comme de la levure dans un pain.

Nos mains étaient faites pour se tenir l’une l’autre.

Et, un jour, nous nous marierions.

Et donc, ce qui a commencé sur un banc avec des pigeons tout autour

est devenu un mariage fait au ciel.

Je suis tellement heureux de t’avoir trouvé.

Et toi, tellement heureux d’être à moi.

Le véritable amour.

Le véritable amour.

©Ellen Pepper 2026

SHEBA

You were difficult to know.
So moody, so hard-ass,
but kind to the weak and feeble.
Gentle with kids and old people.
And men. 
You liked men, but
You snarled at the vet.

Your music choice was smooth jazz.
You savored chicken livers.

You insisted on wearing a leash for walks
like your friends at the dog park.

You were always your own person.
I thought we had more time.

One day you refused to eat or drink.
Your litterbox was empty.
You slept  all the time.

A vet came to see you but...
you refused her help.
She said there was
 nothing 
she could do.

You took to sleeping on my pillow,
your green velvet chair abandoned.

Early one morning.
you gave a deep, disturbing sigh...
and you were gone.

I still see you from the corner of my eye,
basking in a shaft of afternoon sunlight.
Your golden eyes and cinnamon fur
keeping me company,
though you've been gone so long.

Sheba.
We only had thirteen years.
I promised to remember you.
I do.
I remember you.

©Ellen Pepper 2026

What He Did Wrong

 
I am the ghost.
I slipped away while he slept.
Our last night together was sublime, as usual.
He's wondering what he did wrong.

He thought I was sleeping.
He thought he couldn't be heard
 on his phone,
with his head  under a pillow.

He'd whispered:
Hey Jamie, I miss you.
No, I can't leave her yet - it's her Daddy's money,
you know this.
The pre-nup will make me  poor.

I can't.

I'll call you tonight, for sure, babe.
Be patient!
 Love you Jamie, 
love you. "

He slept more deeply than I.
Without waking him, 
moving quickly, 
I grabbed my things.
Flew to a faraway city for a new life.
Daddy's money paid for it.

He didn't know what he did wrong. 
Shaking everyone down to find me,
he even asked my sisters...
He didn't know what he did wrong.

Sure thing, buddy. 

Finally, I sent him a text about the coming divorce.
He wouldn't let go -
demanded more money "to set up a new life."
He said he didn't know what he'd done wrong.
That I'd imagined everything,
though I'd said nothing about his night call.

His messages came like a waterfall.
No need to reply. 
I no longer cared.

Months later, I heard that he'd married -
it turns out his new mate...
was his best friend ... James.

And still he didn't think he'd done wrong.

©Ellen Pepper 2026

Tarquin's Tale

"We were so much in love.
Our last night together was sublime, as usual.
But, when the morning came, she vanished like a ghost.
I woke alone with only the scent of her perfume on my pillow.
What did I do wrong?"

He tried so hard to find her.
He called, he asked friends, he asked strangers -
"where has she gone?"
Fortune tellers couldn't say. They wouldn't say.
Even her sisters claimed not to know.
What did he do wrong?

He'd hoped they would marry.
He'd hoped they'd make babies.
He'd hoped that she loved him.
And yet, she went away. And he wondered,
"What did I do wrong?"

And then one day she sent him a message.
He replied and...
She gave him breadcrumbs but not a meal -
 only snippets of chat - nothing personal. 
Just facts.
Like a stranger. 
Then more silence. 
He sent messages with no replies.
He  felt like a fool for reaching out

And then it ended in his heart.
He wouldn't try again.
She didn't want him - that's clear.
One thing will always haunt him, like a ghost...
What did he do wrong?

©Ellen Pepper 2026