Lanterns

“Lanterns”
 
I want to dream about you
As you dream of me.
But you fade away
Like a faint lantern
Falling from space
Into the dews of high grasses
Where the light will die.
 
I want to be brave
And face the thunders
Of the rising storm
That sails o’er the seas
Separating you from me.
I see the lanterns by the seaside,
As of pale dreams descending upon me
While in the distance, the lightning
Surrounds you in your sleep
Where you say I have come to you—
While the truth is standing near the shore
Unable to see you behind closed eyes.
 
Such pain! To love you not,
For I see in you such sights
As may craft seasons of dreams.
But we are not as alone as you feel.
Your heart I love, but your heart I cannot grasp,
For in the loneliness, I have found a friend
Whose weight upon my soul is most welcome.
I see the lanterns in the silence
And raise my candles to the sky.
But what flame? What flame is this?
The wind of the storm has snuffed it out,
And the lights are carried on the breeze
To the dews of the high grasses
On this day of an autumnal summer
Whose clouds have gathered around my hands.
To the grasses they float and flow
To die…the light will die…
 
© 2022 Marten Hoyle