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SHE SPEAKS !

Through the half-light, early morning, glimpsed the sun
Casting, from the lure of latticed trees,
Webs of shining pearls across the landscape strung.
Soft, she speaks: "Awaken unto me."

Captured by her gaze, the snare-spell hypnotised,
Held fast in her chords of gold, entranced,
Artemisian vision bared to mortal eyes.
She commands: "My heart-thrall, come and dance."

Freed from fleshly coil, my soul ran, tumbling,
Sparring with my huntress/mistress, we
Left behind a world that was yet slumbering.
She tells: "I am truth and mystery."

With a whisper clothed in promise was I caught.
Glowing goddess – myth or mystic cared I not –
Blind, my eyes, by such a vision bathed,
Voice unskilled to marshal words to praise
Beauty. Veils, which once dull senses had deceived,
Lifted; witness revelation, reverie.
Souls entwined, we two the land o'erleapt
Where Prince Rupert's lizards, hidden, slept,
Found a fastness in the wastes, elsewhere forlorn,
Jewel in darkness, warmth in winter's season born:
Called it 'Daybreak', conjured with its name,
There, transformed, we played our changeling games.

Deep amidst the dawn our joyful spirits raced,
Wild, through strange, enchanted realms we rove;
Too soon was she drawn above, by time and fate.
Bids farewell: "Remember me, my love."

Though my flesh be frail, my questing soul unstilled,
Searching for a memory of past scenes,
Shall endure, prevail upon the stars until
At last they speak: "Awaken unto dreams."
(1980)
allure of latticed trees
composite incorporating: photos by Stephen Alsford,
drawing "Diana" by Giovanni Battista Piazetta (1743)
Created: November 17, 2014. © Stephen Alsford