PEARLS OF NIGHT

PEARLS OF NIGHT

Between the inhalations on the pillow
and the exhalations of the prayers,
lies silence, pooled and lucid,
brooding, dark and deep.

Sweet lady of the shadows,
ma belle fée réparée,
casts stardust motes on muted tarns:
Thus, rippled wavelets so disperse
the lifeless memory-mirrored past,
and segue to stillness cool and calm and clear -
a sign [it seems] to seek and scry for future visions
or [perchance] to sigh and conjure dreams.

Between the twilight and the dawning
deep down within these ponds
the stardust shakes my tight-shut shells
awake and opened wide, and within the tender tissues
each stellar grain will settle down and hide.
These loving gifts are then enwrapped
in glossy black, like haematite,
but rainbow-glazed besides,
each a perfect sphere, my dear,
each a Pearl of Night.

Between the sowing of the stardust
and the harvest of the pearls
I will string a strand of passion
to hold my love enchained.
Yes, I’ll trace a line with tender lips
from nape to neck to breast,
secure the clasp with a steadfast kiss,
for your pendant Pearls of Night.

Between the gloaming of the dark
and the breaking of the light
these teardrop gems will join
our sundered souls. Thus so
my Lady of the Shadows
is ‘ma fée captive’ tonight