Modern Romance

Last night i awoke,
the scent of you snapping me out of
gray-paved dreams of desire and fear.

Your hair curved gently over your shoulder,
face smiling in repose upon the pillow.
The smell of redbud blossoms wafted through the window.

I could sense the perfection of quietude and peace
bestowed upon us by rain, wind and fortune.
Memories of the previous day's stroll through the gardens
     were fresh and colorful in my mind.

I ran my hand slowly over the curve of your arm,
felt the warmth of your hand.
You stirred and i kissed your cheek.

Sleep came, your presence with me in dream.
Waking to the buzzing of alarm and heat of mid-morning,
I rolled to hold you.

Gradually, the Lie dawned on my obstinate heart.
Mind-numbing startlization hurling me forward,
gut-wrenching realization pounding me downward.

Your Absence not just an early awakening.
The quiet love of last night, not real, but
an imagined glimmer of what could or should have been.

Had i slipped into this world or out of it last night ?
Was it really true, this awful lie, this world
in which our love is not ?

Driving to work, a nauseous awareness sickening my soul.
People, in love with themselves. People, in love with their power.
People, in love with their cars, feeding off love.

Our perfect love in another world.
Consumed in this one.
Internally combusted and filling the air with vapid vapors.

Returning home, i tremble in bed.
Fearing the un-reality of dreams,
desiring only return to the glimpsed perfection.

I await resurrection,
recalling the mixture of shadow and light
which, for a few moments, was you.