WHILE YOU WERE ASLEEP / The Waking of Ariel

I watch you as you sleep;
Feel a warming breeze pass your cold, still lips;
An essence of florals, and my eyes affix,
On the bleeding heart draped upon your silk, blue gown.

A string of azure beads intertwine alabaster fingers;
The Crucifix looks down on you with venerating passion;
A single ivory rose finds peace beside your breast;
Reminds me of the one you pressed in that paperback of Poe.

And, oh, those abhorrently gaunt torchere lamps,
Standing, catty-cornered and rigid, like military pallbearers.
You used to say ''Why must parlors insist on their presence? ''
I despise them too, my love, and for you I exhort their removal.

'Tis nine at night; prayers of closure pave an eerie path of silence;
I exercise temperence with amorphous expression;
Masking wired nerves and migrained veins;
Handshakes of pestilence acknowledge unknown faces.

Woke up this morning to the sound of rain, our final day will cry
Alone now, kneeling before you; so many thoughts, so little time;
Instead, I kiss your powdered cheek, and whisper in your ear:
'l await the day i'll place an ivory rose on you, again''.

Frank James Ryan, Jr
2007.8월 Poemhunter의 Top 500-100