It is that time before bed
When the day says stop
But still there are things to do
 
As talk and chat winds down
We give our attention
To the News and Weather
 
As couples do before bed
Before the sorting of cats
Locking the doors
 
Before going upstairs
To brush teeth and
Peek at the children
 
(Oh the way the heart’s
love leaps as
the landing-light falls
 
on those dear faces -
sleep gathering in
what the day has grown)
_______
 
Now the promise
Of bed’s lamplight
The click of the switch
 
And the slow radiance
Of the low-energy bulb
Spreading across pillows
 
Into the shadows where
As I lie in bed and melt
you remove your clothes
 
Such careful unbuttoning
before the limbs’ balletic
Moves in sequence
 
Pull-up draw-down
Shed-off  un-hook
Drop fold pile place
 
A jigsaw of curved forms
coming together
in a dance of shadows
 
And now the final gesture
When if naked or not you
Stoop to pull the cover back
 
In exquisite shudder
Your *******
Fall and sway
 
As the smooth fruit
Of your beauty’s
Tree is revealed