Gazing (Poetry)

What are you dreaming of, pretty one?
Here but not here —
you are somewhere else
and almost smiling
at a thought — a memory —
another place only you can see.

Fathoms deep and drifting
although you look this way
the focus of your mind is shifting —
imagination’s current tugs
the then and now —
splits reality away

and layers it in nuance —
all suggestion — nothing more
when a trick of light and shadow
catches the moment’s gaze off guard
with its gentleness self-haunting —
shows you so preoccupied.

Your dreams are not for us —
we cannot share
what you see out of frame
we sense only the ghost of it
reflected in your face —
a glimpse of something nameless in your eyes.