A moment before I was drifting
Shipwrecked and sailless
Clamouring for a sip of cool fresh water,
The reassurance of your love.
But here there was a silence
As complete and sacred as any pilgrim
Could wish for.
Here there was a promise of treasure
Beyond my wildest dreams,
Not gaudy baubles hurriedly discarded
By lurching pirates, their escape route foiled,
But something lasting, as yet unmapped.
How easily I turn from friends calling
Pointing to safe pathways over the cliff,
And suddenly I'm in the bear's cave
Unable to make any sense of the shadows,
Peering through cobwebs which cling
Like my fear, and walls silently moving
Closing in on my last few breaths.
At last I stumble gasping into the sunlight
And collapse exhausted on the warm grass
Just lying there until a gentle breeze
Stirs me, fills me with a new sense
Of gratitude and peace,
So that when you called me to your bed
I was loathe to leave the safety of this,
My own love.