David Allen writes

GOOD MORNING

Good morning

I awake and kiss you lightly on the cheek

            (your pillow is bare)

And softly stroke your long, brown hair.

You turn in bed to face me

Looking into my eyes with eyes

I love to drown my soul in

(there’s but one body’s impression

there’s but one side of the bed to make).

I whisper softly that I love you

The radio answers with a song

(I leave it playing all night long

to accompany this loneliness).

I start to leave; you reach for my hand,

We touch

(the air is not as soft)

You pull me to your side

(I stare at the pillow)

I take your head in my hands

We kiss,

Wine sweet.

The taste turns bitter

You slowly dissolve

Parts of you breaking apart

A jigsaw puzzle

I scream

I pick up the pieces of you

And start to glue

But the head’s on backwards.

My dog jumps on the bed

Scattering you around the room

On my knees I search for you

My dog licks my face

My eyes lose their sleep

I awake.

There is no puzzle

My dog sleeps, head nuzzled

In the crook of my arm

You are at home

Unaware that for a while

We made love in

The life of my night.

 
 A Lonely Bed -- Marianne Waud