CIRCA 1922

touching
almost but not
quite

they lie together
exactly
6 centimetres apart

if one were to
measure
such a distance

but a universe apart
in terms of
the heart

they have just
made love
or rather - had ***

now he snores
she unable
to sleep

she stays awake to see
the dawn enter
the tiny room

gild ordinary objects
with a sunlight
so golden

even a comb,
a brush
a chair

become as wondrous
as objects
in a Pharaoh's tomb

and only then does sleep
finally takes her
prisoner

standing on
the threshold
of a dream

she sees some
future archaeologist
unearth the golden comb

brush...chair...
the thoughts in her
head

her feelings
behind glass
in some museum

of the mind
"Despair"
circa 1922