Nightsongs: 15 nocturnes

I

One Last dance my love

One last waltz in the shadows with the fireflies

To a nightbird’s concerto with the crickets

One last twirl my love, In the twilight

Through the grass near the river

One last dance my love

II

the nightwinds call me on

A seductress’ urging voice

Beguiling and chill

Coaxing copper leaves to twist and turn along the road

with a breathy laugh

The nightwinds call me on

III

To the night, I give my final song

To the night I give my sorrow

My hope, my love

My tears that sparkle in the moonlight

To the night I give my weeping voice

To the night, I give my final song

IV

What may the night bring to me?

It chills my bones to wonder

At the stars so far away,

At the moon that watches, an icy silver eye

Through all my fear in this cold night I wonder

What may the night bring to me?

V

The wind, the rain, and the moon

Like leaden silver sheets

They fall, beating like needles

I walk through

alone, save for my silent companions:

The wind, the rain, and the moon

VI

I watched the moon

Paint the oil black Sea with quicksilver

In her eyes between streaks of her black hair

We stood on the sands, swaying,

Smiling, content, careening in love, with her

I watched the moon

VII

In this midnight

I stand, awake and alive

Chasing winds down alleyways

Hoping, laughing cheering, shouting

Living, for once, living

In this midnight

VIII

In this lotus garden of the night

I wait among the twilight trees

In between groves of silver glamoured flowers

Alone, awaiting an unarriving love,

I abide silently in this place,

In this lotus garden of the night

IX

The winds whisper between midnight willows

They chill my weary bones

They whip around my black wrapped frame

The blinded black moon stares down, shineless

And lightless above this wood where

The winds whisper between midnight willows

X

This night will never end

The blazing city lights

Look on like glaring, imperious stars

Through the rain, the window, they glare

Unwondering, uncaring, unfeeling.

This night will never end

XI

Would you walk with me my love?

In your white dress

Down this tree arched road

Hand in hand with the moon looking on

Through gaps in the branches

Would you walk with me my love?

XII

Sometime the night will end

I know not when

This night may end

Will it?

From my balcony I can only hope

Sometime the night will end

XIII

Those sultry summernight winds

Purr and whisper down the street with me,

Brushing down my arms

I wonder

If they can hear me

Those sultry summernight winds

XIV

That ghostly falling moon

Falls upon the ocean

reaching for the sands

In coal black plumes

Streaked silver by

That ghostly falling moon

XV

My morningstar

Your eyes spark gray

The first sparks of dawn!

You are

my hope, my heart

My morningstar