Paramelotron

Dear friend on the other side.
I hope you are doing well, yes,
I do.

Dear brother in the mirror
Did you do what I dared not?
Like… take her hand and not let go?
Did you say…
I do?

And did she love you back?
As in… not let go of you?
I really hope she did…
Hold you tight.
When the darkness came
Did you also feel alone?
Or was she there to be the warmth?
I know I keep on rambling, but…
Does she wait for you?
When you come home late at night…
Is she there with the heating on?
And the lights dimmed low?
Is there a place by her side?
The extra pillow also used…

Or was your heart too small?
Your eyes too big…
Like mine?

I really want to believe you did better.
That you looked her in the eyes.
Lifted her onto your horse…
To disappear into the distance.
Far away.
Together.
I do.

Paramelotron (n.) /pær-ə-MEL-ə-tron/

Etymology: Greek para- (“alongside, beside”) + melos (“song, melody”) echoing faintly with melas (“black, dark”) + -tron (“instrument, means of”).

1. An instrument or device said to produce a melody that plays alongside one’s own — a second song running in parallel to a life being lived, its notes not quite matching but never entirely lost either.
2. (poetic) A mirror, or mirror-like device, through which one senses another version of oneself, humming a tune just slightly different — tinged with longing, yet carrying its own quiet promise that things might still turn out well, on that other side.
3. (figurative) The gentle hope that somewhere, just beside one’s own existence, another version of the same melody continues — softer, perhaps sadder in places, but not without its own light; a reminder that a different note doesn’t mean a worse one.
   
   Usage: “She spoke of the paramelotron sometimes — that faint melody she swore played just behind her own life, as though someone else were living it, gently, and perhaps happily, just out of reach.”