Mystical poem written 4-28-25. Hymn To Aphrodite 4.

1. “Lay down, my dear, You always were such a deep sleeper”, I drip golden like honey down the path, Between one door and another “Remember, my love, The shadows are never out of reach”, She says this to me calmly, As if I were not coming unthreaded “If you can just remember, Then I will let you wake up”, My rough wool blanket pulled tight, Volumes still unwritten and unsung My robes are cotton pajamas, Vestments of a dreaming priestess, Of anxious strivings, And childhood aspirations 2. If I can only begin to reach up to You, If I can only begin to smell the roses, If I can only come ever so close, To touching Your cheek Then I might be able to finally, Crawl out of the cold, warm, Embracing, lonely shadows, Cast by my far-away forever That person that, I only sort of was, But with whom, I am forever trapped Every time I wake up, I feel that phantom pain, Every time I lose sight of You, I am haunted 3. I will not let You be forgotten, Even if I am left alone and dry, Thirsting for Your lustral waters, In the Desert Of The Real I will puzzle out Your mysteries, I will squint out a glimpse of You, Against all odds, Against the grain I will read Your messages, Rolled up and bound into a bottle, And tossed up onto the war-torn shores, Of this contested reality I am Yours, my Beloved, My Beautiful, my Heavenly, You have laid Your hands upon me, And made me real
Art: Odilon Redon, “Sleep”, (1898)
