Dark Eden

“Dark Eden”

Someday I will make my way
To the dark Eden of endless shades.
In my sorrow, I will kiss the hands of the dead
Who have waited in the blossoming garden
Among beds of forget-me-nots.

There the blackest stones await me
Beneath thousands of lanterns.
Ah! In deepening gloom, I have gathered
The daffodils that softly choke me
With the perfume of the coffin’s feast.

I have dreamt of many sorrows,
Having tasted the wine of foulest sleep
Shrouded in the kisses of the darkness
That forbids me to enter,
For I am full of life where I rest
Amid the wraiths that gather the wreaths
Of eiderdown—the sparrows having lost their flight.

Pour death into the throat of he who feasts
On what shines among the branches
That sway to the final sighs
Of they who sleep inside the hearts of men.
Yes. They are sleeping in such silentness
Though I hear them in the breast of he who rests.
A veil lies between their voices and my mind
Where it seems our thoughts caress:
Bodiless whispers like shadows in a vision of night.
There are stars among them that I can reach,
For their light never faded…
And as I close my eyes, they follow me into sleep,
Into the garden that awaits me
While I listen to his heart grow still.

© 2022 Marten Hoyle