Night & Day (Poetry)

Before the dew was off the grass
before the sun had seared the leaf
and left it withered past repair
I glimpsed one moment passing brief.

And in the dawnlight’s hazy glow
I dreamed myself untouched and wild —
unmarked by years that wrapped me round
grown naked as a reborn child

made perfect in that instant — glazed
a vision shining innocent
as luminous as moonlit cloud
pale sculpted flesh a monument

to memory — the soul inside
that age can’t alter showed its face
one fleeting yet familiar ghost
who drifted through my drowsy space

and left me with a breathless calm —
a rare sensation — wistful — sweet
that gave the day a poignant edge —
slow-teased with a benign conceit

which raised the spirit — warming hope
from dread’s cold chest wherein it lay —
the lid swung wide — freed from the dark
it basked awhile in bold display

forgot the years and counted back
past clocks unnumbered — smoothed the face
unfroze the hands — had health restored —
imagined time could be erased...

I spent that day cocooned in bliss —
sheer fantasy — the world’s grim tale
a headline I refused to read
I sailed my boat and trimmed its sail

oblivious — a waking dream
unravelling against the tide
while minutes gathered still as stones
and built grey harbours either side

until the dusk blurred roofs and trees
as sorrow clouded chill with rain —
before me loomed the lonely night —
that ocean bed yawned deep again.