pretend that you have just met me
in a dream,
and i am beautiful
with dark hair like some long-gone
summer night
and a face
like delicate handwork.

imagine that like some sailor,
helm lost, gone astray
in far seas, by chance
discovering the greenness
of some tropical island,
you see me in the dusk.
and raising my eyes like bird's nests,
i ask you : what took you
so long?

evening comes at day's end
like the sound of dew;
a kite wipes off the scent of sunshine
from its wings.
all earth's colors are spent
and what is left
is a firefly's brilliant hue.

thus i have completed this fantastical tale,
an old story with a happy ending.

all the birds
return home to their nests.
all the rivers flow to the sea.
all the day's trials and errors end.
only darkness remains,
and sitting with me face to face,

you in a dream