WAYFARERS DREAMS

O to lift with you
morning mists over ancient ruins
silent but for first crickets cries
Casting sleep for watery sunrises over emerald lagoons,
Race wanton rays in bat-ridden caverns

To trace the footprints of pilgrims past
Surprise hidden flora beaming their wayside smiles hello
To scale heights in unmarked trails
Echoing coveys and unseen, sure-footed things

We'd sail to far horizons on blood red seas
Tumble headlong towards unspoken tomorrows
Find ourselves above the din of strangers' tongues
alien babble in thronging soukhs
veiled faces with black, sparkling eyes,
wondering at our foreignness

To linger, hours after moonrise, moments before dawn,
Ponder the pallid half moon hanging cold, forlorn
the scream of stars streaking across midnight velvet heavens

Until sleep finally conquers, and we smile in our eyes
Lips honeyed in spiced, sweetened tea
Hands nested, at home in the other's clasp
to await first larksong that heralds
another day's journey.