Bright Eyes

Already you know
I can't give you a moment
Of softness and closeness
My breast for your pillow

My heartbeat your time-bomb
Its untimely murmur
Interrupts your dream
Far too close to your ear

With stories untold though
Your grandfather knew them
They're up in the attic
And we are down here

You knew long ago when
To stall a hangover
You moved to delay
Your arrival for good

Then tossed from your sleep
Like a wave cuts the foredeck
You opened your bright eyes
And held to the mast

You clung there for years
Anaesthetic with terror
Til blinking back light
You fell into the past

And even before
Your soft head hit the plaster
You knew that you'd left
Something precious behind

Long ages I heard
Distant cries from the attic
I tried to ignore them
Because they were mine

Though grandfather's deaf
As the clock in the hallway
His eyes know the ghosts
In the dregs of the wine

Long ages I knew
But I tried to ignore them
Then you looked at me
Like an opening door:

Bright eyes as blue
As the bed of an oyster
Your mother-of-pearl
Is a mirror within

And something pulsates
Like the dew on a petal
And starts an old rhythm
Of wood upon tin

Of beats slowly matching
A far distant echo
Of waves softly stroking
The face of the dawn

And that summer morning
You told me a story
Delivered your gift
Like a child from the storm.