Echo – Shelly Jones
It’s difficult being well known
for a voice that isn’t even mine.
Some who think they know my story
feel pity for me, but they presume too much
and weep tears as fast as wringing out a sponge.
He would not cry for me, nor I for him now:
Too many years of mindless repetition.
He thought himself so loved, but people
only think of him now in spring,
until the daffodils droop and sag,
their faces wilted into the ground.
But me? They feel me beside them
every time they are alone and ask,
“Who’s there?” And their voice
replies “there” in the dark.
Shelly Jones, PhD is an Associate Professor of English at SUNY Delhi, where she teaches classes in mythology, literature, and writing. She received her PhD in Comparative Literature from SUNY Binghamton. Outside of academia she is an active nerd who enjoys board games, Dungeons and Dragons, being outdoorsy, and knitting. Her speculative fiction has been published in Luna Station Quarterly and Podcastle.