The following poem, Beside Me, is one of five published in Issue Six - Winter 2010, Horsefly Literary Magazine.

BESIDE ME
for meg

Although I failed to sleep as

you slept beside me,

my exhaustion was like a sunset

with your smooth horizon beside me

breathing and perfect

the stillness of your beauty

even in darkness beside me.

And the form of your body remained

an angel in the bedding

pressed like a wild rose petal

in some sacred text beside me

Your imperceptible breath

now missing, leaves an empty silence

suspended like a forest ghost

of a fresh blue wind in the smoke

and yawning air around me

Your eyes closed in my

night time memory, cupped

like a green garden bower

sheltering midnight bird song

Your arm the gentle slope of path

rising to the crown of heaven

you asleep are both enigma

and epiphany, vision suspended

in my blindness, a song unsung as

in silence so softly you sleep beside me

so safe you sleep beside me now.