By Gala
Date: 20 March 2000

Aphrodite Rising, Venus Falls

Morning comes like a restless lover,
and my unquiet soul wakes, shakes off the sleep
and looks for you
in the bedclothes.
Not that I truly expected to find you
casually wrapped in a bed sheet,
lolling and watching me
with those changing eyes---
But I looked anyway---to be certain.

I have never bought the love-as-torment concept---
so why is my sleep now an impressionist dreamscape
that leaves me with your laughter
as a soundtack?

I try to read you,
take my clues from the plethora
of false starts
red herrings
and various persona
that you carry
like an actor's grease paint.
But you defy my attempt.

Last time you acted this way,
I assumed the love had gone,
if ever it had visited
and three years later
was casually told
that I had haunted your dreams
like a succubus.

Star crossed,
at odds,
an unlikely pairing at best---
I am fighting the desire to fly,
to save myself heartache,
cut my losses
and find sanity in solitude
with the bone deep
below the skin longing
to have you take these lips
one more time
while this heart of mine
weeps softly
and murmurs "futile"
to my uncaring mind.

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