"Memory Lane" - a Wayfarers Chronicle by Jim Yackel

It's easy for a wayfarer's mind to wander to more pleasant places when circumstances are difficult. His legs are tired and aching and the cold at times penetrates to the bone.


While he is not alone, he is

 missing someone he loves more than anything in this fallen world. He has his memories, and right now he believes it is okay to walk Memory Lane as in the here and now he treads a narrow, rustic towpath under the stars.

It seems as though he is at war with the world, while the world is increasingly at war with itself. He is at odds with this world because he and his friends don't belong to this world. So, it is okay to walk Memory Lane for a little while to help ease the aching in a familiar, beloved place in an otherwise hostile land. But, while the aching may be pushed to the back of his mind, the pain of missing the one who is the starlet of his memories causes his eyes to burn with gentle yet stinging tears as he longs to tell her "goodnight." But, while she stirs in her sleep he walks westward, away from the inferno that has consumed many over the last six hours...(more here)