…just a heartbeat away

I stand alone
at the very cusp of the night
my face turned
to the distant stars
stars, so achingly bright
that they hide the clouds
the ever present clouds
in my eyes

I feel a tremor, deep within
as a gentle, searching breeze
trails slowly
across my mood
I feel a growing warmth
as my blood circles
endlessly flowing beneath

I sense the night unravelling
in the perfumed breeze
the tides of memory roll
awakening familiar echoes
in my close held soul
rousing the sleeping phantoms
of the past

such a sweet, subtle spell
the moonlight weaves
but then, like icy shadows
come the errant thoughts

did the sun used to fall
just in that place?
only to fade into the clutches
of the night?
did it fall just there?
where the moons’ silver
now spills and stains?
as leaves floated
in idle play
and scattered
upon the winds?

through the inconsistent dark
the rocks stand in stony silence
and the sea, rolls over all
in sobbing, waves of grief
I hear it, a voice that never was
yet I know it, I remember
and wherever you tread
I long to also go

now drifting
like a fallen blossom
fragrant and fragile
my feelings return
swirling and wild
like a winter storm
and like the passion
at the heart of a dream
unconquered
by the sunless hours
I know your heart
and even in the darkness
you are always
just a heartbeat away
© Ann Bagnall
2014