Nocturne

The black air is heavy with sweetness
from unseen flowers,
stifling and free.
The breeze is free,
and the stillness,
but there is fear in forgotten feelings,
in lamplight pooling in my eyes and
flowers on my breath,
in a new me who is very old.
Shall I return
to the beige walls and the fluorescent lights,
my lonely night prison where overused thoughts
swirl pointlessly around my motionless body?
Shall I return?
Or shall I venture on
into the night,
the allurement,
put myself in danger for the sake
of a dream
and a borrowed power?
The wedding blossoms hang on the trees
in the lamplight,
beckoning,
and the God-made man-made-poet-made self-made night
sings me on my way.
Distant trains and midnight blue,
passing cars and melodious far-off screams
are lovely and dangerous.
I could wander on and on,
passing the strangers,
always in danger but never harmed,
because I could become
the summer night,
and have skin of air and
eyes of seeing light and
ears of hearing crickets
and be unseen.
Yet shall I return?
Even now I hesitate.
And all is sadness.

Fragile

I. Glowing warmth exudes from fingertips,
Your smile sends radiance beaming across
The gulf of inches between our beating hearts.

The tiny gulf is extinguished as our lips
Touch, and unity is joy, distance no loss.
We softly join, one moment safe, then part.

II. But since our leaving I have stood apart
From all; aloof, I shrink into my throbbing skin.
Away you strangers, venture not near nor look into my eyes.

What is this that causes me to start
When a body brushes past and air is thin?
No shield for me; turn your head and pass me by.

III. These strangers are not you, yet power lies
In closing of distance to look into my soul
And God forbid they pierce the flimsy veil.

The sacred wisp that deep within me tries
To wrap itself in mystery, fears one may control,
Grasp, tear, shred, manipulate, betray, impale.

IV. To you alone I trust this glimpse, so fail
You not my vulnerable and tender being.
Guard it; and that I may know, show yours as well.

Let my trembling hands hold a thing as frail
And gaze long deep with tearful eyes, loving, seeing,
Your perfect flaws. Pull me close, kiss me, secrets tell.