I dreamt another dream tonight
Where the black man came to me.
His teeth and eyes shown bright
As he held me by the sea.
I’ve dreamt this man before,
Where snow flakes fell fat and round,
And with his eyes this man implored
Me not yet to Winter in the ground.
Strolling along the bone white shore
Stripped naked by the tide,
Not stone nor shell lay on the floor
And so I never stopped nor slacked in stride.
Over sea and cloud did the sun cast his golden glow,
And everywhere where he did throw
His dazzling beams, was drenched in silver and gold,
How it glittered, how the clouds blushed brightly bold!
Its quiet times like these
When Heaven meets the Sky
And its not so hard to imagine
You’re standing quite nearby.
I can almost hear you whisper,
I can almost feel your touch,
And I close my eyes and pray to God
That you know I miss you much.
Into the waves did I wade.
A kiss upon each of these, two red lips–
Wordless, yet more than words have ever said.
And so I laid them in her arms and of ocean bade,
To sink my gift beneath her waves.
But the jealous sea only pushed them back,
She threw them on the sand.
Their waxen petals lay bruised and broken,
Beside all our hopes and dreams.
I cannot sleep.
It is a welcome relief.
Tears spring from
The Fire in my belly.
Thawing and revitalizing
What was frozen and sluggish.
I can see it coalescing
My dreams coagulating
Into the tangible pavement
Of Prima Matera.
I feel it pulling me
Forward from Within.
Like the anticipation
Before the race,
I stand crouched,
Ready for the gun.
The wrath of battering waves
Beat and pound
Against harrowed cliffs.
Crashing and roaring
They charge, rivaling against
Thrashing winds.
Lightening pierces and tears
Through the bruised and broken sky,
And all is swallowed
In the quickening boom
Echoing up and down
The discontented shore.
But I lay at the top of the hill,
Tucked safely between
Two quivering arms
That shelter and carry me
Away from the threat
Of the Storm.
And the crashing and roaring
and wailing are drowned
In the two wet pools before me.
And I slip deep and deeper
Into their cool pricking waters,
Falling up into a Violent,
Bittersweet, Paradise.
Soft skins melding in slow, rhythmic union.
A swelling as End blurs with Beginning,
Love’s blazing light warming and
Illuminating like the rays of a gentle
Fall sun on frost-winded day.
Pools shimmer of red and blue
By the glow of the bedside lamp;
Flooding and deepening
To profound lakes;
A ripple, then a wave
Breaks deep inside,
And the flood streams
Past the breakers
Into the dark humid hallow of my parted lips.
Here is the cheek you would caress in my sleep,
The eyes you would kiss when the lids were drawn down.
Here is the mouth from which you drank deeply,
The lips that once smiled, but now meekly frown.
Here, there, every inch of my body,
A memory made where you fingers lingered,
And I hear the echo of a memory of words you
Never said but showed me, to treasure and treat well
This encased soul’s temple body.
We are not so different you and me,
We both have fathers, mothers, friends.
The wind sweeps softly over us free;
The sun shines down atop our heads.
We bleed and sweat, and shed
Bright tears of sorrow and of glee.
But I have not had a vicious word
Spat at me. Nor had my worth
Threatened to be trodden down and slurred,
Because my skin was dark at birth.
I can’t undo humiliations you’ve endured;
I can but do my best not to let them reoccur.
I can but tell you how I do admire
Your lovely color, rich and sheen,
Whether caramel or coffee bean.
I love your heart where burns that fire
Whose glow enduring forged steal-like pride;
Blessed be Temple-Fortress, where Spirit resides safe inside.
You were only twenty-six
When you’d crossed the river Styx,
And left me here to carry on with out you.
You’d fought until the bitter end
But the tear too great wouldn’t mend,
The fierce gray wolf had finally gotten to you.
Now I walk this valley floor
Where you’d trodden once before,
The ghost behind me, Oh, I know it is you!
Within this wood there lurks the beast
Who’d bitten you, he comes for me.
The trees are thick, but whispers lead me onward.
Though my sun is in the west,
Fires burning in my breast
Like the sun, they are glowing golden for you.
Three times before the sun will set
The King’s fate is sadly met,
But from ashes you won’t rise again, will you?
Though the light is fading low
Among the trees down here below,
I have no fear of shadows here beside you.
And in this dark a path is found
Among the needles on the ground.
It snakes along the valley floor and I press onward.
My white rabbit, you disappeared down a black hole
Each night like Alice I chase you round my dreams,
You and your pocket watch.
You shouting to me, “Too late, too late!”
But one day, we all must follow
Down into that black abyss,
Into a slumber from which
We never reawaken.
And perhaps one day when its my turn
To disappear down that magic rabbit hole,
I can finally catch you and ask you the time.
And then perhaps you will no longer tell me I’m too late.
Descending down the steps so steep,
Where even the vines dare not to creep.
Beyond the lichen and grave’s moss reach,
Neither rays of sun nor moonlight breach.
Here even the stones are made to weep.
This stretch of stair who downwards lead
The initiates of the pomegranate seed;
Whose only guides are the shadows cast
By the lonely torches of memories past.
Here, only the echoes on silence feed.
Down in the deep of this unground place
Are the seeping walls of a dimly lit space,
Whose only light from tapers glowing
Illuminate the pools of waters flowing
That trickled down from Heaven’s face.
It’s here I dreamt She did descend,
To this Sacred place before the bend
Of the bitter river Styx.
ladyslipper26 