Corona
by Michael R. Burch

There was a moment
  without the sound of trumpets or a shining light,
    but with only silence and darkness and a cool mist
      felt more than seen.
      I was eighteen,
    my heart pounding wildly within me like a fist.
  Expectation hung like a cry in the night,
and your eyes shone like the corona of a comet.

There was an instant . . .
  without words, but with a deeper communion,
    as clothing first, then inhibitions fell;
      liquidly our lips met
      —feverish, wet—
    forgotten, the tales of heaven and hell,
  in the immediacy of our fumbling union . . .
when the rest of the world became distant.

Then the only light was the moon on the rise,
and the only sound, the communion of sighs.

With all the understandable gloom, doom and despair over the coronavirus, I was reminded of this early poem of mine that used the term "corona" in a much more positive light. I wrote this poem around age 18 and it has been published by Grassroots Poetry and Poetry Webring. Keywords/Tags: Corona, coronavirus, touch, union, communion, sighs, expectation, unity, trumpets, heart, pounding, ***, arousal, union, ecstasy, consummation, consecration, omen, comet, shooting star, talisman, moonrise, moon rising

Feeling empty inside
Silent raw hollow cries vibrate
Heavy a weight but wait as a
voice from within sighs
Uprising begins to follow on strong
Bones turn to dust
Metal will rust
What do you hold at the end
of your day
If only a name

He last called my name,
Then he could speak no more,
I have seen many deaths,
I knew he was going to die.
They hospitalised him,
To check what was wrong.
I sat by the bed praying,
He breathed fast,
In between long sighs,
His eyes were glassy,
I asked for forgiveness,
He moaned,
Nodded several times,
I began to cry,
He was with the angels,
Reliving his past.
It is coming to an end,
The beeps on the machine slow,
Tears fall from his left eye,
He gives a heavenly smile,
Looks at me lovingly,
Let go of my hand.
The machine beeps no more,
Gently I close his eyes and mouth,
Straighten his legs and hands,
He was gone peacefully.
A man of great patience and love,
He gave all and asked for nothing.

So what you gained a little weight
It won't make a difference to me when your legs are up in the air and I'm in between there
The more of you I get to touch
The better things are
Don't worry about being fat
Because you won't be
But thicker thighs
Save lives
With deeper sighs
Of pleasure
Don't worry about the measure
I'd still be enjoying what I see
Pure as the Seven Seas
You'll always be more gorgeous then me
Never forget that
I'll still want to get you finished on surface bumpy or flat
You can teach me yoga on your yoga mat
That's how I see that

Riding by the upturned glen
forever chaste
she rarely stopped for gasping men
wan and waste
but riding and ridden
she flew into the trees
seductively bidden
parted her knees
and enveloped by sighs
she opened her thighs.

We only danced like floating shadows
in mesmerizing daydreams
                       wistfully yearning
                       to drift as light as shapeless air

Warm brush of skin seemed so tangible
across the  distant horizon
                       touching souls
                       only in the throes of musing dreams

Sailing blindly down unmapped winding river shorelines
                       tiptoes touch
                       at shallow waters’ edge

                   "Close your eyes" ...  swim afar
                       where feral currents beckon
                       waft away adrift
                       in a moonstruck daydream trance

Only in sumptuously
                       lucid night dreams
                       we swim stark-naked
                       in a sea of sublimity

Plunging into an alluring metaphysical abysm
                       into the secret titanic depths
                       azure oceans bathe

Plummeting from the edge a Utopian threshold
                       swirling beneath restless
                       swollen waves crest

Unraveling  passion’s prevailing tidal maelstrom
                       the wanton estuary
                       where lovers yearn to swim

Yet … I’ll drift away alone in this restless moonlit solitude
                       fly by night through star dust
                       showered cosmos scenes

                       crash into naked stars
                       in their luminescent splendor
Imbibe a spellbinding elixir yellow moon on the rise

Only in dreams before morning dewdrops gather
                      impearled flesh glistens
                      on the cotton beach of dawn

Awakening sighs replaced by warm enraptured whispers
                      the sensual asylum
                      passion tenderly betides

Splendidly improbable entrancing reverie
                      inspiring indefinable
                      enchanting realms

Awakening to another lonesome daybreak
                      the outgoing tide,
                      drowning in the trove
                      beautiful dreams befall


            Someone you used to know
                                2017