You removed your delicate hand away
From your bosom, and sprinkled
Stardust upon the moon tonight.
While the clouds obeyed her secret palms,
She parted them enough
For her borrowed light to shine through.
Her beams glittered cataract diamonds,
As any found within Leone’s chest;
Upon boulders centred within this field.
So I approached, aloft, pedestal-like,
And mimicking David’s marble form
Gleaming bright in the Florence midday heat,
With no less than a thousand eyes
Gazing upon his dreaming stare,
I perched and mused of my lady-fair.
While above, each star hummed
It’s distant faint tune, and twinkled
Their beat towards Earths gentle breath.
I inhaled the air freezing this night;
Into, not only my lungs,
But my heart reached over to lend her appetite.
Aided by the cool soft wind,
My voice was never the more raised
Above a lonely child’s whisper.
Thus I began: ‘I thought of how
This glorious globe, with her wondrous hue,
Is the envy of all these great spheres,
‘And to muse with the ebb
Of immeasurable times flow
Over the laments of my darling dove,
‘To relay through my mind,
All the moments I could
Have been with your willing body,
‘The many scenes I should
Have been with you. Those times
I should have said exactly
‘What I felt when you were with me,
When I possessed you
Within my gaze. I rue those chances,
‘And missed opportunities. Know that
You occupy my slumbered visions
From when sleep closes my eyes,
‘Till the birds of dawn awakens them.
And as the year closes,
Since first I kissed your smooth cheek,
‘Know humbly, within your breast,
That you were the shining beacon,
A light which guided me over stormy seas.
‘I pray, realise my words,
Softly spoken from the pages sent
To your hands, were meant for your heart,
‘And your smile, mixed with glances,
Were always a true delight
You bestowed on to me.
‘I let you bathe in my soul,
And I truly thank you,
And forever sing your name aloud.
‘I sit alone here under a chilly
Suffolk night and think
The heavens bright of you.
‘Months have fled, and ease of
My sorrow toward the sky
Is a gift I must offer for my changeless love.’
And ending, ‘Take what you wish, my dove,
But please, I beg on bended knees,
Please, do not take my memory of you.’
These words were cupped on the north wind,
While the moon spread a veiled
Duvet of polished silver over the field,
Spilling dew upon the grass
Bleeding from her sheen, moist,
Velvet sheets of liquid nectar.
Before my eyes, the grass stood to attention.
A million green-eyes begged
More from my heated pores.
Amazed; for rooted to the soil,
Adding immense weight to the ground;
They calmed their sway to my measures.
Clouds rushed over to hear, even
The rested sun-chariot peeped
Back over the forbidden western shores.
The birds of day appear, crying
A chattered song for the suns yearning.
Clouds began to weep uncontrollable tears.
As a ripple from a pond, speeds
Over the smooth surface towards
The shade of the blessed river bank,
As did a wave flow from one end
Of the field to these boulders,
And with fresh breath, these blades spoke,
And graced my ears with speech:
‘Oh soon to be spirit, we can sense
What is about to come on to you.
‘Your love, you love, with every
Drop of blood that beats
Within ones heart, we envy you.
‘Can there ever be a time,
Where eagles roar; when lions fly;
Lambs bite; or wolves graze on us?
‘Ever an instance, a time to come,
Where the moon becomes the sun,
In turn, the giver of life, the moon?
‘When the earth, herself, slows,
And rotates back along her axis?
Men born old; death at birth?
‘Hills, majestic sloping hills, iron flat?
Rivers become grain; ocean freeze over;
Skies, and air, turn to solid?
‘Science; vain in being,
Predicts too much; and beauty
Is lost forever in her words.
‘May some farm boy look through
A hole in that there fence,
And sneak a peak at me,
‘May he run to his herd and tell
The leader of the flock the sight
His eyes just bore in witness.
‘For your cries; may a sudden
Rush of blush greet your lady’s cheeks;
May her legs tremble; her hips grow weak.
‘Let the once ferocious deep blue
Calm his waves, and in his face,
Mirror the skies glorious expanse.
‘The moon; may the moon, believe
That she is not eternally alone,
Swimming in the inky black;
‘Let her study her reflection;
And fall in love with her new mate.
May the stars, count not all, shrink
‘The distance between themselves,
Place tender arms around one another,
In a much longed-for embrace.
‘Finally; may Orion, when touching
Western waters; let him relinquish his sword,
And stem the rains from the bellowing east.
‘We feel your pain!’ And they ceased.
They too, felt my joy.
For my wonderful words spun;
Mingled with undiluted wine placed in a
Golden goblet from a heart-stricken tongue;
Which lapped the chilly air while I spoke freely.
‘I knew once a sweet tender maid,’ I began,
‘And without diminishing
The daughters of this night away from you,
‘I will swiftly say she became my voice.
And as the buds burst free
From winters icy hold; and as around
‘Earths eternal prisioned orbit
Spans another of her quarters,
When the sun strikes intense onto Saharan sands;
‘I was with her, and she with me too.
She graced my songs with galloping mane
And eagle striking flaps of wind.
‘She tenderly flowed through my veins,
As any stream from high sacred fountains;
Any river that deposits into sea;
‘Any artists stroke from his brush
To canvas, that paints oil drenching
Figures of unrivalled beauty.’
I paused my strain, and glanced
At our moon, hung high; hung also;
On my every word, halting her route.
‘And with this’, I continued, ‘and your tones
You gifted to me upon these boulders,
I take this poisoned flower from out my pocket.
‘My young blood presented this to me,
Long ago; for the sun has yoked
His steeds passed four full moons since.
‘He too, my brother, calls aloft
To the tunes of music; he too,
Guides his hand to the strums of natures beats.
‘Against that aged oak, with acorns
Spread at its feet, my brother, leaning
His back to its wrinkled trunk,
‘Plucking in harmony strings which,
In his blonde presence never lay slack;
And flinging away his melodies on the breeze,
‘Spoke thus; “If any time on your travels,
A day presents itself, when you find
Yourself sitting upon those boulders there;
‘“And the moon in her glory,
Glows a frosty crystal white, and the voices
In their millions sway to your laments,
‘“Eat this; for your time has come.
One night waits for all of us and all must
Walk the path of death, and walk it only once.
‘“Look to your moon, and bade it goodbye.
Glance at the grass, and bid it adieu.
And say, above all, farewell to your lady.”
So I eat, and sing farewell my love, with a kiss.’