Hypnos

I am older now, but none the wiser.

I was half asleep, head down,

walking a path of bored contentment.

You slid right back under my skin,

and precious fool that I am,

I let you straight back in.

There is no balm, to soothe soul-ache.

Exquisite tung-kuai tendrils 

curl through our days, and invade our nights.

We tried to fight it, we could not.

Fuck. We swim in Kokytos

underwater, with our demons.

I reasoned 'till I'm blue in the face.

Now I'm awake I still can't see.

Logic in this shadow-play has no place.

Being young and shy - undefined - I made a safe choice...

Now my highs are lower, and my lows not so.

I walk endlessly Ennui's dry and distant plateau.

Would you not take the leap,

if you had a second chance at truest romance,

even though the gap's a chasm, it's grown so deep?

We have everything against us,

yet our conviction fuels us...

My heart holds encased a great regret.

Tried to sink in Lethe, 

but I floated up, into life.

So I cannot forget, put what's past aside.

So then, we'll embark on a long wait of good not great,

though the fit's 'square peg, round hole' - 

be the best that we can be, try our best to make it.

Enduring the heat that sears, 

our souls fly nightly, like owls

on the wings of our words still, all these years.

Until eventually, we'll lay this Thing to rest, 

finally lie face to face, breath to breath, 

chest to breast. Definitely not a race.

We dare to shake the tree of life - twice.

Its leaves fly a long distance, for a long time... 

tempted by its nameless fruit, let's be soul-drunk blind.

Open our eyes to our truth - take the leap, fulfil our destiny.

Do we deserve this, or is this just fantasy, 

caught in a landslide - our escape from reality?

© Jennifer Phillips (All rights reserved)

Hypnos © The Trustees of the British Museum