Sea-Deep for My Tomorrow

Here I sit and think,
The conscious hand draws deep into a shifting well
And thrusting forth into the amber glow of mind
Through the dark robe of shivering night
Into the air of sweet censers burning
Out of some antenatal dream
A vision turning and languid in the golden light
Like some Sybaritic dancer flowing forth
In a refulgent efflorescence
That foaming and shimmering for a brief moment
Vanishes back into the smooth plenum
Of the everyday.

When we were young
In fields we ran across to a ruined palace-wall
While rolling clouds bloomed in the exuberant air.
Do you remember the shadows that danced in the breezy dome of groves
As colors played across your lips
And voices fanned the wind with a splendid ovation ?

In the stream, by the wood
Alone I stood.
As winter consumed the green feast of spring
Till black skeleton trees stood still and silent
In a shivering bone-orchard against a pale sky.

When we were young
And thoughts did wander.
We gathered in dale near brook
To sing and sip from the voluptuous
Abundance of our invincible youth
And unpractis'd hands fumbled to
Discover the soft contours of Eros' face.

For a moment I stand amidst these wind-scattered leaves,
These memories .
The lustrous passions that bloom and wither
In fields where flowers fade.
And with these words I consecrate the contents of my almoners pension.
Now pushed out on a floating pyre to sink once again into yesterday
They are buried sea-deep for my tomorrow.

Rex Nemorensis