_

this place once flourished _

familiar sounds fade in on one another , each one leading me into a world i've never been . . this place was beautiful , it still is . . the flowers of a design like nothing i had ever imagined . . . i kneel next to a fountain with water still as the air . . so still it seems more like a window , and through it is glimpses of lives i've never lived : laughter , love , loss . . each feels like a foggy memory just out of reach . .