The Lily (2012)

Last night he dreamt a nightingale flew
To a field in the dawn of May;
And in that field a lily grew
Beneath the warm sun’s ray.

The lily rose from the waving grass
And stretched toward the sky,
It danced with the winds that come and pass
And leave us with a sigh.

He watched it as beneath a trance,
For it turned a maiden fair:
The light of spring was in her glance,
And the sun was on her hair.

She came to him so gracefully,
And took him by the hand,
She drew him into that waving sea
He did not understand.

She drew him into that waving sea
The sun had set on fire,
Then danced and sang of what could be
And filled him with desire.

And there upon the grass they lay
Beneath the noon-hot sun,
Passing the hours in lovers’ play,
When two meld into one.

At last, as sleep stole softly on,
She sang a lullaby –
Of evening, night, and of the dawn,
Of the sun and stars and sky.

He did not know how long he’d slept,
When he woke to the rustling air,
But he knew he was alone, and wept
For the girl who was not there –

The maiden wreathed with heaven’s flame
And robed in blooming spring –
With only the winds to sigh her name,
No more to hear her sing.

No more to hear her sing, no more
To dream upon her breast –
No peace until the final door,
And the bed where he would rest;

No more to watch her graceful dance
And hear her lullabies,
Yet ever trapped within the trance
That caught him in her eyes.

He gazed across the golden plain
He watered with his tears,
And cried aloud, for he heard the strain
Of the love he’d sought for years.

And there, again, above the grass,
He saw his lily fair:
She danced on the winds that come and pass,
And the sun was on her hair.