Eyeful of stars

Lost in the sheets, without finding the bed

Only opening eyes when laid down to rest

No quiescence but daydreams banishing sleep

Of a dance in the dark and a touch on the cheek

This false beating heart will twist her awake

When yearnings prick sweeter than honor or faith

An eyeful of stars to corner her dreams

Her innermost faults, her innermost seams

 

 

 

Of flowers past

Where light my darling coming

Through the white Queen’s lace and fetters

I see her love of shoot and sprig

Of loosestrife even as asters

Her mouth a bow of girlish charm

And her hands everywhere trailing

So she was many summers past

And so now I briefly see her

Better cast in my adoration

Than in all the sun’s rayed splendour

~

Elizabeth Cook, 2017

Image from Karen Margulis